ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s plan to auction sites for mineral exploration in Chitral without guaranteeing the local people’s rights and bypassing the native miners has drawn widespread criticism and opposition in the valley.

Talking to Dawn on telephone from Chitral, Col Sardar Mohammad Khan, a representative of Chitrali miners, said the plan to auction the sites spread over 50 per cent area of the district would deprive the local miners of their rights because they would not be able to compete in the bidding with resourceful companies belonging to other parts of the country.

The sites being put up for auction were earlier vacated after cancellation of mining licences issued to one of the two Pakistani firms registered in Australia and US, as it failed to carry out any exploration even after lapse of eight years.

The local miners’ representative said there was already a sustainable and practical model of mining in Chitral under which leases were awarded to the locals who then teamed up with Chinese and Korean parties to run successful operations. Besides protection of both the stakeholders’ rights, this model also ensured steady revenue and cash streams for the government.

He alleged that it seemed the bureaucracy wanted to adopt short-cuts to achieve their own objectives at the cost of long-term investment stability, unimpeded sustainability of operations and socio-economic development of the locals.

The Chinese and Koreans are approaching Chitral-based parties as they learned bitter lessons in Balochistan where similar misguided policies pursued by successive governments ignored local stakeholders which backfired, forcing he investors to leave the area, he added.

He appealed to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Mines, Minerals and Industries Mehmood Zeb Khan to cancel the auction plan to ensure the rights of the locals and avoid unrest among the people.