LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly witnessed a heated face-off on Monday as Minister for Mines and Minerals Sher Ali Gorchani announced discovery of gold in Attock, vowing that the revenue would be spent on the Punjab people.

“Punjab’s assets belong to its people, and we will present the ground realities of this discovery to the nation,” he stated, adding the auction process would be transparent.

He was responding to an adjournment motion by PTI MPA Qazi Ahmed Akbar from Attock who had sought information about the money earned from the gold and also raised the issue of registering cases against the landowners from whose lands gold was being extracted instead of paying them royalty as per law.

Qazi told Dawn that the landowners were being implicated in cases for “creating obstructions in the government duty” instead of making the mine leaseholders to pay royalty to the landowners.

The minister took the opportunity to launch a scathing attack on the opposition, asserting that the provincial government would not allow the looting and plunder seen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to take root in Punjab.

Gorchani emphasised that under the leadership of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, theft would not be tolerated, noting that excavators were already stationed near the canals to secure the site. “We are currently estimating the total value of the gold deposits. One block of the Mines and Minerals Department has already proven successful,” he said, before accusing the opposition and the KP government of corruption.

The atmosphere turned volatile when opposition member Mian Asif Ali Bagga retorted sarcastically, “No one is allowed to steal except Maryam Nawaz.”

Amidst the political sparring, Deputy Secretary Zaheer Iqbal Channar briefed the House that the Mines and Minerals Department had already generated billions in revenue for the Punjab government.

The deputy speaker also stepped in to assure members that if any individual is being harassed or facing fabricated cases by the department, the minister would personally ensure that those charges are dropped.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2026