Asim Munir’s US ‘gem parade’: Rare earths deal with FWO sends warning to India

Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir’s ‘gem parade’ before US President Donald Trump bears a sinister political message for India, one which was crafted a few weeks ago when he successfully got the US to agree on doing rare earths business with Pakistani military entity Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) – the outfit tasked with building a grand memorial on Operation Bunyan al-Marsoos in Islamabad.

FWO, which inked a $500 million deal with Missouri-based US Strategic Metals (USSM) on September 8 for exporting rare earths, was just days before that handed over a site at H8 Islamabad by the Capital Administration to build the Marka-i-Haq memorial in memory of those killed while responding to the attacks by India on the Pakistan-based terror infrastructure.

Not just that, the US seems to have so far overlooked the fact that FWO is a product – in many ways, an important symbol – of Pakistan-China strategic partnership. It was set up in 1966 to execute the strategic collaboration with China to build the 1,300 km Karakoram Highway through the Khunjerab pass. The outfit was also drafted in to clear the Chagai I & II sites in Baluchistan for the Pakistani nuclear weapons programme.

In fact, it aided the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission’s Special Works Division in the tunneling work at these sites. FWO was initially carved out of the Pakistan Army’s Corps of Engineers. It continues to be commandeered directly by the military despite having branched into other areas like building motorways.

Beyond roads, FWO is the Pakistan entity in the mega $14 billion Sino-Pak collaboration, building the 4,800 MW Diamer Bhasha dam on the River Indus in Gilgit area of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. India had raised objections to the project when it was launched in 2020.

The mining operations of FWO have, however, had limited success. They have focused mainly on mining base metals from Bhunj mining project in Baluchistan and some precious stones from the Chapurson Valley in Gilgit-Baltistan. It has also chased gold deposits with little success.But clearly, Munir does not want to take chances with a non-military entity when it comes to dealing with Washington. The choice of FWO clearly conveys that Munir wants this to be a military deal all the way – and he left no stones unturned in buttressing the same with Trump.FWO’s partner on the other side, USSM, appears to be gaining from Trump’s policy of resuming mining in the United States. The company owns the 7.3 sq km Madison mine in Missouri from which it plans to extract cobalt.

Interestingly, within the first month of the Trump administration, the company secured approvals for a $400 million loan from the US Exim Bank and clearance from the US Customs and Immigration Services for another $100 million under EB5 programme, which allows permanent residency for foreign investors in projects under this scheme.

That said, both USSM and FWO have yet to mine anything extraordinary. But for Munir’s trumped-up political capital, that’s business for later.