Pakistan’s Mineral Wealth and the Foreign Dependence and the Need for Independence

News:

DAWN reported on Thursday, 6 August 2026: “US firms look to Pakistan for critical mineral supplies... Amid a major push by the Trump administration to secure global critical-mineral supply chains, US companies are exploring opportunities to acquire and develop smaller mines in Pakistan. They are also considering larger investments in projects involving copper and other critical minerals, including antimony.”

Comment:

Successive Pakistani governments have repeatedly opened the Ummah’s mineral wealth to foreign powers and corporations rather than developing it independently. The latest American interest in Pakistan’s critical minerals follows the same pattern already witnessed at Reko Diq, where immense copper-and-gold reserves were placed under an agreement involving the Canadian-owned company Barrick Mining Gold.

According to DAWN, these remarks concerning American interest in Pakistan’s mineral resources were made by a US embassy official. They came as Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer discussed progress in bilateral trade negotiations.

This is the hallmark of Pakistan’s rulers: no independent policy, no control over strategic resources and no vision beyond securing foreign approval. They open mines to foreign companies, implement IMF-driven export policies, send raw materials abroad, import finished products at higher prices, and leave defence dependent on foreign technology, machinery, and components. What they describe as “investment” produces political, economic and strategic dependence.

The alternative must begin with ending foreign control over the Ummah’s resources. Sovereignty does not mean choosing which foreign government or corporation will be permitted to exploit them. It means rejecting external control altogether. This can only be achieved through the Khilafah (Caliphate) State, which would unite the lands, resources, and political power of the Muslims under one state, rather than leaving them divided and vulnerable.

The state must adopt a policy of indigenisation. It has no right to sell mines and other abundant resources because Islam has designated resources of vast and continuous public benefit as public property. It comes in a narration from Rasool Allah (saw) عَنْ أَبْيَضَ بْنِ حَمَّالٍ، أَنَّهُ وَفَدَ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَاسْتَقْطَعَهُ الْمِلْحَ - قَالَ ابْنُ الْمُتَوَكِّلِ الَّذِي بِمَأْرِبَ - فَقَطَعَهُ لَهُ فَلَمَّا أَنْ وَلَّى قَالَ رَجُلٌ مِنَ الْمَجْلِسِ أَتَدْرِي مَا قَطَعْتَ لَهُ إِنَّمَا قَطَعْتَ لَهُ الْمَاءَ الْعِدَّ ‏.‏ قَالَ فَانْتَزَعَ مِنْهُ قَالَ وَسَأَلَهُ عَمَّا يُحْمَى مِنَ الأَرَاكِ قَالَ ‏"مَا لَمْ تَنَلْهُ خِفَافٌ‏"‏‏.‏ وَقَالَ ابْنُ الْمُتَوَكِّلِ ‏"أَخْفَافُ الإِبِلِ‏"‏‏.‏ “Abyad went to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and asked him to assign him (the mines of) salt as a fief. (The narrator Ibn al-Mutawakkil said, which was in Ma'arib.) So, he assigned it to him as a fief. When he returned, a man in the meeting asked: Do you know what you have assigned him as a fief? You have assigned him the perennial spring water. So, he took it back from him. He asked him about protecting land with arak trees growing on it. He replied: He could have such as was beyond the region where the hoofs (of camels) went. The narrator Ibn al-Mutwakkil said, "That is the camel’s hoofs."

Abyad ibn Hammal asked the Messenger of Allah (saw) to grant him a salt mine. The Prophet (saw) initially granted it to him, but when he was informed that it was like a continuous source of water, he withdrew the grant. This demonstrates that abundant resources cannot be handed to individuals or corporations for private control.

Mines should therefore be extracted and managed by the state on behalf of the people. Their wealth should not be used to repay foreign debt or enrich private corporations. It should be directed towards meeting the needs of the Ummah and building an independent industrial base.

The state should establish mines, refineries, research centres, engineering institutes and factories. It should develop the machinery required for extraction and processing, and train the engineers and scientists needed to connect mineral production with the electronics, transport, energy and defence industries.

Strategically important minerals should not be exported in raw form. They should be refined and manufactured within the Muslim world into high-value industrial and military products. Such a policy would create skilled employment, reduce brain drain, and ensure that defence production rests on resources, technology, and industries controlled by the state rather than on imported machinery, components, and weapons.

The issue, therefore, is not merely who operates Pakistan’s mines or negotiates its mineral contracts. The fundamental question is whether the immense wealth Allah (swt) has placed in the Muslim lands will continue to strengthen foreign powers while the Ummah remains divided, indebted and dependent, or whether that wealth will be reclaimed, developed and directed towards the needs, industry and defence of the Muslims.

These resources must be protected as public property, developed through indigenous technology and administered by an independent Islamic authority. Only the Khilafah can unite the lands and resources of the Ummah, end their exploitation by foreign powers and use them to restore its strength and dignity. Allah (swt) says:

[وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِۦ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱلْمُنَـٰفِقِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ]

“And to Allah belongs all honour, and to His Messenger, and to the believers, but the hypocrites do not know.” [Surah Al-Munafiqun 63:8].

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Bilal Ahmad