BISHAM: More than 70 armed militants stormed the second famous emerald mine in Gojarao Killay Amnavi area here Wednesday and started mining.
Sources said the armed militants made trenches and bunkers around the second largest emerald mine in Shangla district. The militants declared that those who wanted to work with them against 50 per cent share were welcome and they could start work in the mine. They added that the money generated from the sale of emerald would be distributed on equal basis.
The people of the area confirmed the forcible occupation of the mine, which was earlier leased out by the government to an American firm, Luxury International, for Rs40 million per annum. When contacted, the director of mines licensing said the mine was leased out to the American firm that left the area when violence intensified in the valley.
The official said as the American firm could not meet the terms, hence date of April 18 was fixed to re-auction the mine and the pre-qualification tenders had already been floated.Meanwhile, after capturing the mine by force the militants employed the local people and work to mine emerald started.
Earlier, the militants forcibly occupied a famous mine at Fizza Gat on the outskirts of Mingora, the district headquarters of Swat. However, people of the area said the authorities’ silence over the occupation had emboldened the militants to occupy a mine in Shangla.
The area of Gojaro Killay was very close to the famous resort of Malam Jabba where the mine was located. The militants earlier also destroyed the Malam Jabba health resort and the place used to be a stronghold of the militants during the military operation.
The owner of the mine said nobody was even allowed to go near the boundary when the reserves were in the control of the Mines Department but now more than 1,000 labourers had started work in the mines.
Police officials stationed at the Shangla Top also confirmed occupation of the mine by the militants. However, despite repeated attempts the district coordination officer and district police officer were not available for comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment