No minerals licence given to US, Aqeel Malik says; asks Maulana to produce proof

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Law Barrister Aqeel Malik has said that the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) was not ready to fulfil its constitutional responsibilities. He expressed regret that allegations were coming from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam.

Talking to the media, he said Maulana and his party had claimed that the decision on emergency was taken for the sake of minerals. According to him, Maulana Fazlur Rehman is a very shrewd politician, and he had already expressed dissatisfaction with the province’s security.

Aqeel Malik said Maulana had also named the United States, claiming that it had been given a licence. He asked Maulana to produce the minerals licence with the United States. He said no minerals licence had been issued to the United States or any other country, and that the claim was false and fabricated.

Rejecting Maulana’s allegations, he said 3,262 mining licences had been issued up to February 2024, while 4,917 licences had been issued since 2024. According to him, these licences were issued by the PTI, which had been in government for 13 years.