Overview
- Governor Faisal Karim Kundi announced on Saturday that the provincial government had suspended all gold mining and cancelled mining leases across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and ordered leaseholders to remove heavy machinery within seven days.
- The announcement follows a police operation in Kohat that officials say left 10 policemen dead and about 18 suspected militants killed during a gunfight with forces returning from the site.
- Kundi publicly accused specific politicians of involvement in illegal mining and said officials believe roughly 80 percent of mining proceeds were crossing into Afghanistan and helping finance militant groups, though those claims are presented as official allegations pending investigation.
- He announced institutional steps including a task force named for slain DSP Haidar Zaman, the formation of a judicial commission to probe the Kohat incident, and a commitment to roll out a new gold-mining policy within three weeks.
- Officials say the scale of alleged illegal extraction is large—figures cited include thousands of tractors and dumpers and about 90 kilograms of gold a month—which raises enforcement challenges, threatens local livelihoods and heightens tension between attracting investment and policing the sector.