Pakistan’s natural resources extracted, exploited by powerful military amid lack of transparency

Brussels, Nov 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) Pakistan's military has largely remained beyond scrutiny and accountability, with its affiliated commercial organisations enjoying direct access to valuable public resources without adequate transparency, a report has stated.

It noted that this has deprived the government of tax revenues and income, while politicians and bureaucrats continue to face criticism, highlighting the failure of democratic accountability amid the prevailing civil-military imbalance.

“Pakistan’s powerful army has realised over time that it need not govern directly to exercise power. There were pitfalls. It was made accountable for the failures of governance and wrong decisions. So a new arrangement has come into existence, where civil politicians occupy government offices, formulate policies as well as face public anger, while the military holds the reins of power, allowing it to retain a decisive influence over strategic affairs and expand its economic interests,” a report in the European Times detailed.

Highlighting mineral exploitation in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other provinces as an example of this arrangement, it said, “Army-linked organisations are directly involved in mineral extraction, allowing army officials and the elite to reap huge profits. At the same time, public queries about mining contracts, operations, royalties, income generation, and exports remain unanswered. Nobody in Pakistan can question its army. Neither the civil government nor the judiciary. Leave the common people alone.”

According to the report, the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a hybrid civil-military economic body, was established to accelerate investment in the country.

However, it noted that the organisation’s role appears to have extended beyond this mandate, reinforcing the military's formal and institutionalised presence in economic decision-making and business governance, despite the civilian government remaining at the forefront.

In this context, the preferential treatment extended to military-linked organisations makes transparency all the more important, the European Times mentioned.

“The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), a military engineering organisation, has received a contract to operate the Muhammad Khel copper mine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. So concerns are being raised if Pakistan’s natural resources are being extracted for the benefit of the public or for the powerful institutions of the military. No government records have furnished details about the quantity and value of copper recovered from the mines. There is a clear clash between the province’s economic interest and military-linked commercial activity,” the report stated.

“The Pakistani masses would never know how much profit the military-linked organisation earned. Notably, FWO is entitled to receive 50 percent of the profit earned from North Waziristan’s Muhammad Khel copper mine. These are substantial commercial interests, even though the public would never know the actual revenue generated,” it noted.

Source: IANS