The recent protests in Shangla, where local youth activists blocked highways demanding safer mines, are a desperate cry from communities burying their dead. Over 20 miners from Shangla have died in recent accidents at different mines in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Dozens of miners die in Pakistan every year due to shameful working conditions and the lack of action against greedy mine owners and their influential associates.
Pakistan has still not ratified the ILO’s convention on mining safety, meaning that not only are our safety standards below even the bare minimum international standards, but somehow, mines still manage to fall below our atrociously low benchmarks.
In the first two weeks of January alone, at least three separate deadly incidents in Balochistan illustrated the most common — and avoidable — mine disasters, as 12 workers were buried alive after a gas explosion, one was killed in a mudslide, and two were killed in a mine collapse. In many cases, especially those where the entire mining operation is illegal, not even the most basic safety precautions are taken — miners are even seen wearing street clothes with cricket or motorcycle helmets. Mines are not equipped with gas detectors or ventilation, and most miners and staff have no emergency health or rescue training.
Child labour remains common, and wages are often misaligned with the risk of work. Meanwhile, workers injured on the job may not even get healthcare support, let alone compensation. On the regulatory front, inspections rarely take place, and are so cursory that accidents have taken place at some mines days after they ‘earned’ the approval of inspectors. Mine owners also rarely faced any punishment — even if any penalties are dealt out, they are limited to mine foremen and other low-ranking managers.
Moreover, if we want to encourage foreign investment in the mining sector, we must also raise safety standards. If nothing else, investors will be wary of having their names attached to the deadly disasters that are bound to happen when lawlessness abounds.
