PESHAWAR: The residents of Khushal Garh, Kohat, on Monday moved Peshawar High Court against use of mercury in gold mining in the area, terming it an environmental hazard resulting in contamination of air, polluting the Indus River and also affecting agricultural land adjacent to the mines.

A petition was jointly filed by former provincial minister Amjad Khan Afridi and 13 others as public interest litigation in the green bench of the high court through Advocate Nouman Muhib Kakakhel.

They contended that using and dumping mercury was poisonous to humans, animals, flora and fauna and aquatic life and was also having a negative impact on agricultural lands.

They said that use of mercury and other environment polluting activities of miners should be declared unconstitutional as a healthy environment was fundamental right of everyone after the passage of Constitution (Twenty Sixth) Amendment Act.

Petitioners term the practice environmental hazard

Petitioners said that the practice was also violative of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Act and Minamata Convention on Mercury, a multilateral environmental agreement that addressed specific human activities that were contributing to widespread mercury pollution.

They requested the court to restrain the official respondents and private contractor from polluting the environment by burning mercury into open air, dumping the same in agricultural and other properties and throwing the wastes into the Indus River in the interest of justice.

Petitioners requested the court to declare the inaction of relevant government officials as violative of fundamental rights, illegal and without lawful authority.

They prayed the court to declare that a healthy environment was a fundamental right by virtue of Constitution 26th Amendment and the respondents were bound to obey, protect and enforce laws, policies and SOPs governing the subject matter.

The respondents in the petition are KP government through chief secretary, secretary of mines and minerals, KP Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), director general mines and minerals, Kohat deputy commissioner, its district police officer (DPO) and a private company Himalayan Earth Exploration.

Petitioners claimed that land in Khushal Garh was one of the fittest for agriculture in the area. They stated that of late Gold Placer Mines were discovered in the area, which were advertised and auctioned by the government. They said that the lease of the mines spread over 35 square kilometres was allotted to the private respondent on Nov 8, 2024.

They said that in the lease granting order it was mandatory for the private company to ensure that the mining should be environment-friendly. They alleged that the contractor started mining in the rented area without following SOPs and state of the art placer gold mining.

They said that it had been damaging the environment through water and soil as well as air making it an area unfit for the inhabitants to survive in due to use of mercury while separating gold from byproducts it came with.

Citing several side effects of mercury, petitioners stated that its exposure to humans could cause neurological damage, skin infections, impaired immune function and reproductive harms, etc.

They said that mercury exposure in plants could inhibit seed germination and growth, damage root systems and disrupt photosynthesis. They claimed that they had approached the relevant officials time and again about the use of mercury in gold mining, but in vain.

Petitioners claimed that there were many best suited and environment-friendly procedures available for mining of placer gold, but the contractor was not utilising the same and instead relying on mercury burning.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2025