From the Begining..

From Shahjahan’s Taj Mahal in Agra to Aurangzeb’s Badshahi Mosque, the subcontinent is laden with monuments that stand in testimony to the magnificence of the material used in their making: marble.

Newly-formed Pakistan continued the tradition when it constructed the tomb of its founder out of sang-i-marmar. Jinnah’s tomb, built in the 1960s, laid the foundation of the marble industry in Karachi. It would not have been unreasonable to expect that the nascent state would carry on the legacy of the past and prioritise marble as a commodity of prime interest. Instead of harnessing the potential of marble, which the country is generously endowed with, Pakistan’s marble industry is in the doldrums.

Pakistan’s marble resources are spread largely across three provinces: KP, Balochistan and Punjab. Some quarries also exist in Sindh and parts of Gilgit-Baltistan. A report published around 2010 by the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) estimates marble and onyx reserves to be more than 300 billion tonnes while granite reserves are estimated to be 1,000 billion tonnes. In comparison, marble reserves in India are estimated to be 1,931 million tonnes.

Marble and onyx reserves are found largely in Mohmand Agency, Chitral, Buner, Swat, Parachinar, Gilgit, Hunza, Swabi, Bajour, Mardan, Wazirstan, Azad Kashmir, Lasbela, Chagai and Khuzdar. The biggest onyx reserves are said to be in Chaghai District in quarries largely owned by members of the Zehri tribe. Meanwhile, the report lists Gilgit, Dir, Chitral, Swabi, Kohistan, Nagarparker, Chagai, Mansehra, Malakand and Swat as places where granite deposits exist. However, the only known sources of “workable granite” according to this official report are in Nagarparkar and Mansehra.