Akbar Notezai

In today's Dawn! dawn.com/news/1578777

The real gold-diggers of Reko Diq By @Akbar_notezai thecontrapuntal.com/real-gold-digg… via @withemes

Thisn is a heartbreaking tale of corruption and competing interests thecontrapuntal.com/real-gold-digg…

@iAdnanAamir Thank you, Adnan!

Another masterpiece from @Akbar_notezai on Reko Diq. thecontrapuntal.com/real-gold-digg…

@NidaKirmani Thank you, Prof.

Balochistan is a quintessential example of the resource curse, & the most glaring example is Reko Diq. @Akbar_notezai documents this decades long story of lies, obfuscation, & blatant theft in meticulous detail.

@aliraza_rind Thank you, Ali Raza!

@Akbar_notezai Interesting piece.

My latest story: The real gold-diggers of Reko Diq #Balochistan thecontrapuntal.com/real-gold-digg…

@naziha_syedali Thank you, Naziha!

@Akbar_notezai Fantastic work, Akbar.

"on 12 May last year, law enforcement officers, acting on a tip-off, intercepted a container carrying a package from the Reko Diq project, which was being escorted by Customs officials. The FIR states that the officers recovered hashish that was being smuggled in the container."

#LongRead 🇵🇰| As preparations begin to extract billions in copper & gold from #Balochistan's Reko Diq, locals are still waiting for their share, caught between geopolitical rivalry, corporate opacity, and a state that has failed them. ✍️ @Akbar_notezai thecontrapuntal.com/real-gold-digg…

In both Pakistan & the US, journalists r seen as a PR arm of the state. Not there to report all sides of the picture - as principles of journalism demand - but only to advance the state’s pov. It’s the public that pays the price of this lack of information.

Three killed as armed men attack Pakistan Coast Guards in Arabian Sea reut.rs/3OD6V4x reut.rs/3OD6V4x

HRCP marks the fifth anniversary of the passing of formidable journalist, public intellectual and an incomparable champion of peace, democracy and human rights I. A. Rehman. We are proud to have been led, represented and advised by him as the organisation's director for 18 years, secretary-general for eight years and honorary spokesperson for five years until his passing on 12 April 2021. HRCP remains committed to the human rights causes he espoused and the peace movements he led.

Journalist Shelly Kittleson has been abducted in Baghdad. We join our colleagues around the world in demanding her release. This is an unacceptable attack on press freedom. Journalists are essential witnesses; not political leverage. abc.net.au/news/2026-04-0…

Chaghi, #Balochistan

Barrick delays Reko Diq project in Pakistan amid mounting security concerns reuters.com/world/asia-pac…

A woman in Tehran weeps the destruction of her home, walking away with her cat wrapped in a blanket. Photo by Erfan Kouchari.

Take, for example, millions of working people in Balochistan who are currently being suffocated by the shutdown of the Iran border trade. Pakistani officialdom sees this matter only through the lens of ‘national security’, but as Akbar Notezai has masterfully documented, a vast array of goods, most notably oil, travel across the border on a daily basis, providing a daily wage to drivers, small traders and more. There is also the dark business of human smuggl­ing, powered by the demand of a brutalised population without hope. Border closures mean that working people who have not yet succumbed to hu­man smugglers are literally being starved of their meagre livelihoods. Cross-border trade on the Torkham and Chaman borders also remains largely suspended as the state remains militarily engaged with its former protégés, the Afghan Taliban. Here too, the drums of war take their toll on civilians killed by bombs and guns and a much wider demographic of ordinary working people — both Pakistani and Afghan — that rely on everyday trade for their survival. dawn.com/news/amp/19815…