Azam Swati Revealed To Be Among Those Who Challenged Reko Diq Contract

Pakistan will have to pay almost $6 billion in damages to a foreign gold mining firm whose dig was shut down by the government in 2011.

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 18th July, 2019) Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Azam Swati was among those who filed a petition demanding the suspension of Reko Diq agreement.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Swati is revealed to have been among the three dozen petitions who had challenged Tethyan Copper company’s contract for Reko Diq mining in the Supreme Court.

World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) imposed a huge fine of $5.976 billion against Pakistan in the Reko Diq case.

Now Pakistan will have to pay almost $6 billion in damages to a foreign gold mining firm whose dig was shut down by the government in 2011.

The consortium Tethyan Copper company – of which Canadian gold firm Barrick and Chile's Antofagasta Minerals control 37.

5 percent each – is the largest Foreign Direct Investment mining project in the country.

More than a decade ago the group found vast gold and copper deposits at Reko Diq, in the turbulent southwestern Baluchistan province, and had planned a hugely lucrative open-pit mine.

But the project came to a standstill in 2011 after the local government refused to renew the consortium's lease, and in 2013 Pakistan's top court declared it invalid.

Prime Minister Imran Khan issued orders for the formation of a commission in the Reko Diq case. According to reports PM Pakistan Imran Khan has directed formation of a commission to investigate into the reasons as to how Pakistan has been fined in this case; who were responsible for making the country suffer such a loss.