A MAJOR controversy has emerged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) over the award of a mining lease in Chitral. As per the claims of the private firm concerned, it was pushed aside despite having spent years on exploration, machinery, foreign experts and local jobs. The company held a valid exploration licence covering over 164 square kilometres.

After completing its work, it applied for a mining lease for base metals. When its application was rejected, it challenged the decision in court. On Oct 23, 2025, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) sent the case back to the Mineral Titles Committee (MTC) of the KP Mines and Minerals Department, with clear instructions to decide the matter strictly as per the law. Just before the MTC hearing, key officials, it is alleged, were transferred, and the mining area was subsequently awarded to another company.

This, if true, is not just a bureaucratic lapse; it is a direct attack on merit, rule of law and investor confidence. Pakistan’s biggest problem is not a lack of resources. It is corruption. Inefficient and compro-mised bureaucracy, backed by political interests, continues to scare away serious foreign investors. No investor wants to operate in an environment where rules can be bent, officials can be reshuffled overnight, and decisions, allegedly, can be engineered behind closed doors.

What makes this case even more troub-ling is the political context. If a party that rose to power on an anti-corruption slogan is uanble to ensure transparency in its own province, what message does that send to the investors?

These allegations require independent investigation. The public deserves to know why senior officials were transferred right before a key decision. Why was the lease allegedly awarded without a transparent auction? Who benefited?

This is more than a mining dispute. It is a test case for governance in Pakistan. Investigative journalists, accountability institutions and civil society must dig deeper into this scandal. If bureaucratic manipulation and political interference are exposed and corrected, Pakistan can rebuild trust. If not, the country will continue to lose investment opportunities to more transparent economies. Until corruption within the bureaucracy and its political backers is addressed, foreign investment will remain a mere promise.

Dr Mohammad Ishaq
Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2026