International News: Pakistan has delivered its first-ever shipment of rare earth and hair-trigger minerals to the United States without signing a deal last month with an American visitor to explore and develop the country’s mineral resources. The move has caused protests in Pakistan, with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), expressing wrongness over what it calls “secret deals” with the US. Equal to a report by Dawn on Monday, the sample shipment sent to the US includes antimony, copper concentrate, and rare earth elements such as neodymium and praseodymium.
US Visitor Signs $500 Million Deal
US Strategic Metals (USSM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in September with the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), the engineering arm of the Pakistani military. The try-on involves an investment of virtually $500 million to set up facilities for mineral processing and minutiae in Pakistan. The Dawn report mentioned that the samples sent to the US were “prepared locally in collaboration with the FWO.” In its statement, USSM tabbed the shipment “an important step in strengthening the strategic partnership between Pakistan and the United States.” It said the MoU creates “a full plan for working together in exploring, processing, and refining minerals within Pakistan.” USSM, based in Missouri, focuses on producing and recycling essential minerals. Equal to the US mission in Pakistan, the US Department of Energy has identified these minerals as key to modern technologies.
Pakistan’s Mineral Wealth and US Interest
The sample shipment came without the White House shared a photo showing Donald Trump looking at a box of rocks described as rare earth minerals. Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir was explaining the samples to Trump, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stood nearby. Pakistan, struggling with debt, is seeking US sustentation under Trump’s wardship by offering its untested reserves of rare earths. Reports estimate Pakistan’s mineral wealth at well-nigh $6 trillion, making it one of the most resource-rich nations in the world, equal to Dawn. However, many foreign companies have left Pakistan without lightweight to find the large deposits that were expected.
PTI Raises Alarm Over Secret Agreements
Imran Khan’s PTI has urged the government to reveal the full details of the deals made with the US and American firms. PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqqas Akram asked the government to be transparent well-nigh the agreements. The party demanded that both Parliament and the public be informed, saying that “the full details of all such deals must be made public.” PTI’s concerns are not limited to the $500 million mineral agreement. The party has moreover questioned reports suggesting that Pakistan may offer the Pasni Port—located near China-backed Gwadar—to the US for wangle to minerals. This issue gained sustentation without a closed-door meeting between Shehbaz Sharif, Asim Munir, and Trump, drawing comparisons to old colonial “concessions.”
Fears of a Repeat of the Past
Responding to reports by The Financial Times well-nigh the possible offer of Pasni Port to the US, PTI warned that such “secretive and one-sided deals” could make Pakistan’s fragile situation worse. The report said Pakistan has proposed giving a port on the Arabian Sea in Balochistan, tropical to the Chinese-built Gwadar port, to the US as part of its efforts to please President Trump. The port is moreover near India’s Chabahar port in Iran. Akram said that PTI “will never winnow agreements that harm the people or the national interest.” He urged the Shehbaz government to learn from history, referring to Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s 1615 visualization to indulge the British to trade at Surat Port — a move that later led to colonial domination.
