To be economical with truth is Pakistan's biggest economy.
Pakistan has nominated Donald Trump for Nobel peace prize.
It actually devalues the significance of Nobel peace committee itself.
Analysts want to know how would the Nobel Committee 'consider' a nation that is Pakistan - accused of suppressing human rights in Balochistan under Asim Munir's indirect dictatorship as a credible nominator !!
In his social media post, Baloch leader Mir Yar Baloch has accused the Pakistani leadership and Army chief Asim Munir of misrepresenting facts to U.S. officials.
He asserted that Donald Trump had been misled and that Pakistan is making false claims for financial gain.
He made it clear that Balochistan is not for sale, and warned that no foreign power, including the U.S. or China, will be allowed to exploit Balochistan’s minerals, stating: “This is a non-negotiable sovereignty.”
Yet surprisingly a section of media and worse President of America believes Pakistanis.
A 2019 oil discovery hyped by former Prime Minister Imran Khan had proved unviable after drilling.
'Failed' military boss Asim Munir's new plans - as were made out to be - to save Pakistan's economy through rare earth minerals, apparently bowled over Nobel crazy Donald Trump.
No wonder Islamabad has already recommended for the same.
Pakistan claims there are rare earth minerals particularly via the Reko Diq project. Munir has claimed Reko Diq could generate $2 billion annually.
This is also gripped in falsehood. Firstly, the project can start production only in 2028 and there are ifs and buts around.
Some say these are unlikely as the oil promises.
Of course the claims of the presence of rare earth minerals in Pakistan remain unproven.
Moreover, rare earth element (REE) extraction requires advanced technology and infrastructure that Pakistan lacks, while environmental risks and high costs further complicate profitability.
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Into another plane.
At present China dominates global 'rare earth' REE production, and is understandably tolerating Pakistan’s US engagement due to its strategic utility against India.
However, as US ambitions challenge China’s entrenched stakes in Balochistan, Pakistan’s tightrope walk becomes riskier.
Moreover, Pakistan's mineral reserves, often claimed to be worth $6 trillion and in some official narratives even inflated to $8 trillion, are seemingly exaggerated figures, as Canada-based defence journal Quwa points out.
Pakistan has copper and gold deposits in the Chagai district of Balochistan, but here extraction remains hampered by Balochistan's security challenges, with separatist attacks frequently targeting projects such as CPEC.
Reports of Pakistan planning to nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize surfaced soon after Munir landed in the US. Later, the White House confirmed that the US hosted Munir after he backed the Nobel bid, which was one of the first to nominate the "Peace President" for the prize.
However, the nomination lacks credibility given Pakistan's history of supporting terrorism, which undermines its moral authority on peace advocacy.
The US, under the Presidencies of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Trump himself, has listed Pakistan as a safe haven for groups like the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, among others. The LeT and its front, The Resistance Front, are proscribed terror organisations by the US State Department.
Baloch leader wrote in his post --
“Allowing Pakistan’s radicalized military and rogue ISI, known for sponsoring Al-Qaeda and various proxy groups responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, to exploit Balochistan’s trillion-dollar reserves of rare earth minerals would be a grave strategic mistake.
Such access would significantly enhance the operational and financial capabilities of the ISI, enabling it to expand its global terror networks, recruit more militants, and potentially facilitate large-scale attacks reminiscent of 9/11.”
((As one of Pakistan’s largest provinces, Balochistan remains largely unexplored, yet it holds some of the world’s richest critical mineral reserves — including gold, copper, chromite, lithium, and rare earth metals.))
Diplomacy and US hypocrisy:
"Emboldened by Trump's support, Munir has threatened India from US soil and warned Pakistan's nuclear arsenal could plunge the world into chaos. Washington's failure to challenge this rhetoric reveals the Trump administration's shortsightedness," says an article in 'India Today'.
Pakistan army chief Munir visited the US when Israel launched Operation Rising Lion against Iran in June.
By then he got the taste of Narendra Modi's 'Operation Sindoor'.
Pakistan's false claims after Operation Sindoor stood exposed when Samna TV reported that over 140 Pakistani soldiers were given 'posthumous gallantry awards' on Pakistan's Independence Day.
The report was deleted soon after it went viral.
Regardless, the fact that Pakistan suffered deep damage within its territory during India's Operation Sindoor is a fact of life.
Visuals of Munir arriving in Washington DC surfaced just four days after the Israeli assault began. The visit was strategically timed, and came just over a month after Pakistan had taken a beating from India.
Pakistan shares a border with Iran and the US was to engage in airstrikes against the Khamenei regime. In what appeared to be a Trumpian "deal" with Pakistan, an arrangement was made.
The US was likely exploring greater cooperation from Pakistan just days before it went on to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities.
Pakistan, fearful of unrest spilling over from Iran, where Baloch fighters enjoy cross-border support and ethnic ties, was apprehensive about any US-backed regime change in Tehran. Yet, Munir, reeling from the humiliation of Operation Sindoor, was desperate enough to offer whatever he could.
The embrace of the US after years must have felt like a new-found life for the military leader of the Islamic Republic where fauj is supreme.
In the last two decades, the feeling in Islamabad was that it was losing its strategic value to the US.
India–US ties continue to remain at an impasse. According to a 'Washington Post' report, senior White House officials, including Ricky Gill, the US National Security Council’s Senior Director for South and Central Asia, were in New Delhi,
They met former Indian diplomats too. The Indian side reportedly voiced frustration over the derailment of trade talks and also expressed unhappiness on Trump's repeated claims that he brokered the India-Pakistan ceasefire.
Trump also made uncharitable remarks against India's economy calling it dead - which is totally untrue.
Gill sought to reassure former Indian diplomats of America’s commitment, but noted frustration within the White House over India’s insistence on downplaying US involvement in ending the May conflict with Pakistan. Former Indian diplomats were “surprised” by this question as India has consistently maintained that its long-standing disputes with Pakistan, must be addressed bilaterally.
The tariffs have made things worse and complicated. New Delhi has called the measures “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”
ends
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