News DeskIslamabad :Central leader of the United Business Group (UBG) Atif Ikram Sheikh on Sunday said erstwhile FATA is full of natural resources which are enough to change the fate of the country.
The mineral resources found in tribal areas should be exploited without any delay so that the local population can get jobs, he said.
In a statement issued here today, he said that the region has been brought to the national mainstream which was the beginning of a new era of prosperity.
Atif Ikram Sheikh who has served as Chairman PVMA and VP FPCCI said that many businessmen who left that area under fear has come back and playing their role in national development.
He said that South and North Waziristan are full of precious stones, gold, silver, copper worth billions of dollars, granite, marble and 36000 million tonnes of chromate.
Only one spot in North Waziristan has oil and gas enough for forty years of country’s total requirement which must be exploited on preference, he demanded.
He said that the government should not waste time and start using these resources of national development.
The local people are digging out these minerals through blasting which destroy a large part of these reserves and inflict irreparable damage to eco-system of the area.
Efforts should be intensified to mine the natural resources such as copper, marble, manganese and gypsum in a professional way, which will usher an era of progress and development in the tribal region and the country.
