Khawaja Asif Rejects Claims of Military Seeking KP Mineral Licences

PothikTV News Desk: 17 October 2026, 9:05 am

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif clarified on Saturday that no military institution is among the more than 500 pending applications currently under consideration for mineral licences in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

In a statement posted on social media platform X, Asif presented official figures regarding the history of mining licences granted in the province. According to the data he shared, only 482 licences or titles were issued in KP from the creation of Pakistan up until 2010.

The defence minister noted that the numbers expanded significantly during the provincial governments led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The total reached 1,762 by 2020, grew to 3,962 by February 2024, and currently stands at 4,917.

Out of the total licences issued to date, 4,133 pertain to settled districts while 784 are located in the merged tribal districts, Asif stated. He added that the military engineering organization Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has received only a single mining licence across the entire period.

That specific licence was granted in 2015 for the Boya area of North Waziristan, where the FWO was actively involved in construction and infrastructure rehabilitation work, the minister explained.

Asif stressed that more than 500 new applications are currently being evaluated, and none originate from a military entity. He argued the data demonstrates that the vast majority of mining permissions were authorized under PTI rule, and military institutions hold no direct involvement in the sector beyond the single FWO permit.

The defence minister’s clarification follows critical remarks from Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman regarding the recent imposition of Governor’s Rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Speaking at the Mufti Mahmood Conference in Multan, Fazl claimed that the emergency measure served to transfer administrative authority over mineral wealth in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) from the province to the federal government. He alleged that local resources were being compromised and warned that international powers were being brought into the region.

Addressing the political friction, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi remarked on Friday that an unnamed political leader was displeased after failing to secure a share in the administrative structure or the governorship in KP following the declaration of Governor’s Rule.