The controversial law will undermine restive Balochistan’s rights over its mineral reserves.
In the second week of March, while the media was busy covering the deadly train hijacking in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan, the provincial assembly quietly and in great haste passed an important and now controversial piece of legislation: the Balochistan Mines and Minerals Act, 2025.
With little to no discussion or opposition to the bill, it silently slipped through the Balochistan provincial assembly and became an act on March 14, receiving barely any media coverage. Only after a similar bill in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province sparked controversy did the Balochistan Mines and Minerals Act come into the limelight.
What does the Balochistan Mines and Minerals Act provide for? What makes it problematic? And importantly, why was it enacted now and in such a rush? The act says that its purpose is to develop an internationally competitive, stable, and enabling environment for domestic and foreign investment in the provincial mining and minerals sector.
For the rest of this article: https://thediplomat.com/2025/04/why-the-balochistan-mines-and-minerals-act-was-enacted-swiftly-and-silently/