SWABI: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial president Main Iftikhar Hussain has said the movement launched by their party against the ‘unjust’ Mines and Minerals Bill is a ‘Khudai Khidmatgar Tehreek’ in which all residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should play their role.

According to a press release issued here on Sunday, he was addressing ANP workers while updating himself about the preparations for multi-party conference that will be in the district on Wednesday at Haqqani Library.

Mr Hussain said that ANP called a meeting of its legal team when it came to know about the bill. “After thoroughly studying the bill, the legal team reached a conclusion that if the bill is passed by provincial assembly, 18th Amendment will no longer have any status and our resources will completely go from the province to federal government. That’s the reason that we have started a movement against it, which will continue till reversal of the bill,” he added.

He said that their struggle continued unabated. “We are educating people, who gave us a tremendous response. We are proud of our Pakhtun brothers and sisters,” he remarked.

Mr Hussain appealed to all residents of the province to fight for their rights. He said that everyone living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was part of the movement.

He recalled that there was 100 per cent attendance of traders, mines and minerals union leaders, legal fraternity as well as political parties when ANP called a conference on the bill at Bacha Khan Markaz, Peshawar, on April 23. It was a proof that the bill was opposed by them with a complete vigour and determination, he added.

“According to the Constitution, every province has full rights over its minerals. Now, rulers want to take away the constitutional rights of KP. The Mines and Minerals Bill has been introduced to deprive us of our resources,” he said.

The ANP leader said that America was involved in a huge conspiracy against them and wanted to loot their mineral resources but they would not allow it. “How it can be possible that my mineral wealth will be plundered before my eyes and I will remain silent,” he questioned.

He said that the investors, who attended the two-day Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum in Islamabad in the second week of April, were having no love for Pakistan, but they were eying mineral resources.

He informed the party workers about the tactics used by those, who supported the bill. He said that no one could take away the rights given to them by Constitution.

The preparations for the multi-party conference in the district were discussed and ANP leaders claimed that it would be a historic gathering. Local leaders and workers of the party are finalising arrangements for the conference.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2025