Hundreds of impoverished laborers along the banks of the Indus River in village Jalwal, Tehsil Jand, District Attock, Punjab, Pakistan, are urgently calling on higher authorities to intervene and halt ongoing police harassment, intimidation, extortion and demands for bribes. These workers, many of them unemployed youth from the local community, rely on manual gold panning—extracting small amounts of placer gold from river sediments by hand—as their primary source of livelihood and bread-and-butter income.
Manual gold extraction of this nature, using traditional panning methods without heavy machinery, is not inherently illegal in Pakistan when conducted on a small, artisanal scale. It provides a vital means of survival in areas with limited employment opportunities, particularly amid economic hardships and in regions like Attock district, Punjab, where placer gold deposits have drawn significant attention in recent years due to major government surveys revealing substantial reserves.
However, tensions have escalated as some newly affluent local individuals—reportedly seeking to monopolize or control access to these riverbank resources—are allegedly pressuring police to crack down on the poor panners. According to the affected laborers, these influential figures are influencing law enforcement to target the hand-extractors through frequent raids, threats, and extortion.
In recent incidents, police have arrested several of these small-scale laborers, but a local judge in Jand has granted them bail, allowing their release pending further proceedings. The laborers view these arrests as part of a pattern of selective harassment rather than genuine enforcement of mining laws, which they argue disproportionately affect the poorest while sparing those with connections or resources for machinery-based extraction.
The Indus River has long been known for trace placer gold deposits, carried downstream from upstream regions (including Himalayan sources), with notable accumulation in slower-flowing areas of Punjab, particularly around Attock. Recent government surveys and reports have highlighted significant potential reserves—estimated in the hundreds of billions of Pakistani rupees—sparking both official plans for regulated mining auctions and a surge in informal activities. While larger-scale illegal operations using excavators have prompted crackdowns, fines, equipment seizures, and even temporary bans (such as under Section 144) in nearby districts, small hand-panning by locals remains distinct and is seen by many as a legitimate subsistence activity with minimal environmental impact.
The laborers of Jalwal are demanding:
An immediate end to police harassment, arbitrary arrests, and bribe demands.
Protection of their right to earn a living through legal, small-scale gold panning.
Investigation into the role of influential locals allegedly orchestrating these actions for personal gain.
Clear guidelines from provincial authorities (Punjab Mines and Minerals Department or relevant district administration) to distinguish between permissible artisanal work and illegal large-scale operations.
This situation underscores broader challenges in Pakistan‘s informal mining sector, where poverty-driven livelihoods clash with enforcement inconsistencies, local power dynamics, environmental concerns over unregulated extraction, and calls for better regulation to prevent exploitation of vulnerable communities.
