Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi announced on Saturday that all gold mining leases in the province are cancelled and mining activity is suspended with immediate effect, three days after an ambush in Kohat killed police personnel returning from an operation against illegal gold mining. Kundi made the announcement at a press conference in Peshawar, joined by the provincial adviser for mines and minerals, the chief secretary and the provincial police chief. He directed leaseholders and contractors to remove their heavy machinery from the mining areas within a week, announced a task force named after DSP Haider Zaman, the officer killed in the Kohat attack, and said a judicial commission will investigate illegal gold mining and the Kohat incident.
Police say 10 officers were killed in the ambush and 18 attackers were killed in the fight that followed, while Rescue 1122 put the police toll at 11 killed and 12 injured; the two official counts have not been reconciled. The Pakistani Taliban, the TTP, claimed responsibility for the ambush in a statement reported by the Associated Press and AFP, and that claim has not been independently verified. The governor’s figures for the scale of the illegal trade, including about 90 kilograms of gold extracted each month in Kohat, are his own and have not been independently audited. As of Saturday evening, no official notification cancelling the leases had been published, so the move rests for now on the governor’s announcement.
The photograph in this video is a file photo of Governor Faisal Karim Kundi (Osamayawar1988 / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons). It does not show the announcement or the Kohat ambush. The other screens are original Zark News graphics.
Full story: https://zarknews.com/governor-kundi-announces-cancellation-of-all-gold-mining-leases-in-kp-after-kohat-ambush/
Sources: DNA; The News; TechJuice; Associated Press; AFP • November 14, 2026. File photo: Osamayawar1988 / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Zark News illustration.
