{"id":131643,"date":"2026-08-21T21:03:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T16:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=131643"},"modified":"2026-08-21T21:03:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T16:03:06","slug":"people-of-balochistan-will-have-first-right-to-provinces-wealth-pm-shehbaz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131643\/","title":{"rendered":"People of Balochistan will have first right to province\u2019s wealth: PM Shehbaz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday vowed that the people of Balochistan would have the first right to benefit from the province\u2019s \u201cwealth\u201d, adding that investment and resources would be required to extract metals and minerals from the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The premier was addressing the closing ceremony of the Balochistan National Workshop in Quetta, which was attended by senior government officials, local notables and religious leaders from the province.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cToday, if I were to say that Balochistan is Pakistan\u2019s richest province, I wouldn\u2019t be wrong. But our precious metals and minerals are still buried under mountains in massive quantities,\u201d PM Shehbaz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere should be no doubt that this is the wealth of the people of Balochistan, whether they are from Makran, Lasbela, Chaman or any other area,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Acknowledging that the people of Balochistan would have the first right to benefit, the premier said questions arose about whether the full benefits of the province\u2019s metals and minerals could be extracted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo ensure that, we will need investment to extract that wealth from the mountains and waters,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need expertise, we need the means.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He further said that Balochistan and the federal government needed to work together to \u201cbring this wealth to the people of Balochistan first, and then to the people of Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PM Shehbaz then discussed some of the challenges facing Balochistan, including the need for education, hospitals and roads, as well as the security situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe biggest thing is that geographically, you are the largest province. If people need to head to different areas, if they need education, if hospitals and roads need to be built, then providing the means is a genuine challenge,\u201d he said, noting that these issues were not unique to Balochistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo how do we solve these issues? Through mutual consensus and the fair distribution of the available resources so that all provinces benefit,\u201d the premier said. \u201cIf there are challenges, they need to be resolved through mutual dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, PM Shehbaz said that \u201cno Pakistani\u201d could try to solve problems by resorting to violence. He cited examples of people from elsewhere in the country who had come to Balochistan for work, but were captured by terrorists and killed based on their ethnicity or where they were from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs far as terrorism in Balochistan is concerned, there is no doubt&nbsp;<em>Fitna al Khawarij<\/em>&nbsp;are benefiting from hostile nations and martyring the innocent,\u201d he said, using the term the state employs to designate terrorists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSecurity forces and law-enforcing agencies are fighting them day and night,\u201d he added. \u201cThey have kept hundreds of millions of children safe at the expense of their lives. We must never forget this sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier today, Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2024303\">said<\/a>&nbsp;that foreign-sponsored proxies are being employed by hostile elements to destabilise Balochistan, obstruct its development and \u201ccreate a wedge between the state and its people\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), he made the remarks while interacting with the political leadership of Balochistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It said that CDF Munir underscored that the \u201cpresent and the future of Balochistan and Pakistan are one and forever\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Balochistan possesses some of the world\u2019s most promising undeveloped deposits of copper, gold, chromite, antimony and potentially rare earth elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The province is home to the world\u2019s largest undeveloped copper deposits at Reko Diq. A&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1943039\">$7 billion mining project<\/a>&nbsp;is jointly owned by the government and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1957316\/barrick-committed-to-reko-diq-copper-project-says-interim-ceo\">Barrick Mining Corporation<\/a>&nbsp;in equal shares. It is expected to begin production by the end of 2028.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies\u2019 (PICSS) monthly security&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2019937\"><u>assessment<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;released on July 31, the security situation deteriorated most significantly in Balochistan in the country last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The overall death toll increased by 241pc in Balochistan, from 109 in June to 372 in July, the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Security personnel deaths in Balochistan increased from six in June to 62 in July, representing a rise of 933pc. Terrorist deaths rose from 75 to 238, while civilian deaths increased by 93pc, from 28 to 54. Eighteen members of peace committees were also killed in the province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday vowed that the people of Balochistan would have the first right to benefit from the province\u2019s \u201cwealth\u201d, adding that investment and resources would be required to extract metals and minerals from the region. The premier was addressing the closing ceremony of the Balochistan National Workshop in Quetta, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>People of Balochistan will have first right to province\u2019s wealth: PM Shehbaz - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/131643\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"People of Balochistan will have first right to province\u2019s wealth: PM Shehbaz - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday vowed that the people of Balochistan would have the first right to benefit from the province\u2019s \u201cwealth\u201d, adding that investment and resources would be required to extract metals and minerals from the region. 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