The Supreme Court of Pakistan finally declared the new Reko Diq mine deal legal and urged all provinces to amend their laws in accordance with the agreement.
An agreement in principle was reached between the government of Pakistan, the provincial government of Balochistan and Barrick Gold Corporation earlier this year for the reconstitution and restart of the project, which has been on hold since 2011.
The court also observed that the Balochistan Assembly was taken into confidence regarding the agreement. The order stated that the law did not allow agreements on national resources in violation of the Constitution
Barrick Gold Corporation assured that laws for wages would be abided by and most of the labour force would be recruited from Pakistan, the order said.
The court was further told that the project would be used for investing in social initiatives and skill development schemes would also be launched under it, the order added.
In October, President Dr Arif Alvi had filed a reference in the Supreme Court of Pakistan to seek an opinion on the Reko Diq case on the advice of the prime minister.
SC had reserved the verdict on the reference last week, and announced it today.
It said the deal was legal, and environment-friendly as well. Prior to announcing the verdict, SC had sought the help of foreign experts on the subject.
At a press conference in Islamabad in July, Barrick President Mark Bristow had said that the first phase of Reko Diq copper-gold project will be completed by 2027-28, and the scheme will convert it into a “world-class mine and transform Balochistan”.
It will be operated by Canada’s Barrick, which will have 50% ownership. 25% will be owned by the Balochistan government and 25% by Pakistani state-owned enterprises.
“We will bring capital and technology to this project,” Bristow had said at the time.
Both sides are committed to show the world how partnerships on huge projects can deliver excellent results, he said.
Investment for the first phase of the project is estimated at $4 billion and the firm is looking for a consortium of investors to pour in $2 billion out of this value, he said.
“We have reached out to International Finance Corporation, co-investors and export and import agencies around the world,” Bristow said. “This is one of the largest fixed foreign investment project that Pakistan has ever had and it is the largest in Balochistan.”
The Apex Committee, headed by Minister for Finance and Tethyan Copper Company Pakistan (Private) Limited shareholders, had agreed to a framework for the settlement and revival of the Reko Diq Project in March 2022. — ERMD

Pakistan has topped the overall score in the China Index 2022, a database that ranks how much influence Beijing has on countries around the world along a set of domains, from foreign and domestic policy to technology and the economy.
The China Index has been launched by the Doublethink Lab and China In The World network as the first cross-regional project to objectively measure and visualize the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s overseas influence through comparable data.
This year’s edition ranks China’s influence in 82 country profiles across nine Domains: Academia, Domestic Politics, Economy, Foreign Policy, Law Enforcement, Media, Military, Society, and Technology. Each Domain comprises 11 indicators devised by the China Index Committee, a group of renowned China experts, each of which corresponds to an observable phenomenon of PRC influence.
“As of November 2022, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Singapore are ranked as most exposed to PRC influence,” the Index said on its website. “Paraguay, North Macedonia, and Albania are ranked as least influenced.”
“Globally, PRC influence is assessed to be most prominent in the Domains of Technology, Foreign Policy, and Domestic Politics, and weakest in those of Military and Society.”
Pakistan ranked eighth in the economy category, second in military, and first in technology and foreign policy.
“Through the Index, we seek to establish an interactive world map that visualizes the PRC’s evolving influence in different countries,” the Index website said. “We expect the China Index to serve as a reference tool that enhances global understanding and awareness of PRC influence, particularly for academics, media, civil society networks, and policymakers.”
China and Pakistan are longtime diplomatic and strategic allies. Beijing has been involved in major mining, energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan, including the deep-water Gwadar port, all part of the approximately $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. — ERMD

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of the Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway (M-6) in southern Pakistan, vowing to connect remote areas of the country, particularly in the Sindh and Balochistan provinces, and uplift them through development.
The 306-kilometer-long, six-lane Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway is scheduled to be completed within 30 months at a total cost of Rs307 billion. It will pass through the districts of Jamshoro, Hyderabad, Matiari, Benazirabad, Nowshero Feroze, Khairpur, and Sukkur in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.
Pending since 2016, the M-6 motorway is the only missing link in connecting the country’s southern port city of Karachi to the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Addressing a ceremony to mark the launch of the project, the prime minister said the development of road infrastructure to connect all provinces of the country, particularly remote areas, was crucial to strengthen the economy.
“Connecting far-flung areas of Balochistan and Sindh would pave the way for economic and social development of the country besides creating new business opportunities,” the premier said. “Without the development of Balochistan, Pakistan cannot prosper.”
Balochistan is a sparsely populated, mountainous, desert region bordering Afghanistan and Iran and home to a separatist insurgency that has sometimes waned and sometimes intensified over the years. It is the largest but least developed province of Pakistan.
While Sindh houses the Pakistani port city of Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial capital, vast swaths of the province are backward with some of the lowest indicators in the country for education, health and infrastructure.

The 27th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) turned memorable for all shades of the engineering community in the country. The incumbent leadership led by Engr. Najeeb Haroon that traveled to Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa’s capital of Peshawar returned home with a feeling that they achieved what they had targeted. Of course, the moot is a mandatory requirement to get a nod on the council’s annual spending besides a variety of approvals.
Also, those who had issues with the conduct and performance of the council appeared jubilant believing they presented their case before the moot which though was not very big in numbers but still enough to create a conducive platform for their respective objectives.
The major ripple was created by young engineers who have been critical of the performance of the council and believe they are not represented in the prime body of the organization—Governing Body.
The best part of the moot was that the leadership as a whole and especially the chairman seemed set in mind to listen to everyone which turned the moot into a house where the argument received due attention.
Young engineers who had already made preparations to fight their case by moving a motion signed by over a hundred signatories who were also emboldened by their seniors presented their case before the meeting. They demanded that the age limit for contesting the elections for the governing body be relaxed and brought down to just five years.
But they were not alone in demanding to make their way to the governing body, there were two other groups also who did demand relaxation but for those having work experience of 10 and 15 years. They had also moved the motions with the moot. At present, engineers having at least 20-year experience can contest the elections for the governing body of the council.
The movement of multiple motions relating to the relaxation for contesting council’s elections kicked off a debate wherein both sides put their arguments that came to an end after the young engineers were assured of the movement of an amendment to the PEC Act with the parliament which is empowered to amend whatever criterion is set in this respect.
The moot did not stop on addressing issues relating to the representation of the various age groups of engineers in the governing body of the council, matters relating to increasing expenditures of the council, and representation of the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) supposed to be working under the council surfaced in the moot.
As per the budget summary of the PEC development and operational budget for 2022-23 of the council, the total development and operational budget increased by 31 percent in comparison to 2021-22.
In the proposed budget for 2022-23, the development budget outlay stands at Rs.4371.51 million (against the actual Rs.600.51 million) and operational outlay at Rs.1152.1 million (against Rs29.09 million) showing an increase of 31 percent and 11 percent respectively. The increase, a senior engineer advised, should be curbed especially on the non-development side.
Moreover, a senior CIDB engineer proposed that the representation of contractors should be enhanced as his community contributes more than anyone in terms of revenue to the council.
The AGM’s issues and heat remained for the day but in the moot many engineers continued talking about the decisions made in the meeting of the Governing Body that was held a day earlier. Many dissent voices and whispers could be heard on issues about a contract given to a retired employee of the council and confirmation of the post of the advisor to the chairman but as some members claim no one did oppose the decisions on which they were not pleased though.n