PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Violence erupted at demonstrations against power cuts in several towns in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, leading to clashes with police that left one dead and several injured, officials said.
Hundreds of protesters looted and burnt down government offices and police checkpoints, snatching valuables and weapons, said Deputy Commissioner of Malakand district, Zafar Ali Shah.
They tried to burn down a main power station in the town of Dargai, he said. Similar clashes took place in Peshawar, Charsadda and Swat.
In Peshawar, protesters took to the streets for the third day of rallies and roadblocks, said police official Nasir Khan. At least two offices of the power supply department were ransacked, he said. Provincial lawmaker Fazl-e-Rabbi who led the rallies in Peshawar, said the protests would continue until the federal government ends the disparity in power distribution.
“We have complained to the power distributors to end the unscheduled outages, but they’re not listening to us,” said deputy commissioner Shah.
Meanwhile, a mob led by a member of the provincial assembly (MPA) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) leader Fazal Ilahi blocked Ring Road in Peshawar as they protested excessive load shedding in the province, Dawn Online reported.
Ilahi later claimed that he had been called to Wapda House for negotiations, but was not being allowed in by the police, who he claimed manhandled his supporters.
The new protests come days after some PTI members were arrested for ransacking the Pesco office in Batkhela amid protests against the frequent power outages.
In some of the affected areas in Karachi and Badin, enraged crowds took to the streets to protest over the failure of the power utilities in maintaining uninterrupted power supply.
The sudden and prolonged electricity breakdown caused an acute water shortage in Karachi as major pumping stations of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board were without power.
Almost 70 per cent of Karachi was affected by the breakdown. The restoration of electricity began after around three hours and at 12.55pm, K-Electric claimed in a Twitter posting that “Karachi has now been fully normalised after the power interruption caused by tripping in the Extra High Tension Jamshoro 500kV line”.
Clashes with law enforcement agencies during protests in Pakistan often prove to be fatal as scores of people have been killed in the past during demonstrations.
The protesters have been angered by the 10 to 12 hours of power cuts daily in the summer heat. The fact that Muslims fast and abstain from drinking water in daylight hours during Ramadan has made matters worse, Shah said.
Power cuts are common in energy-starved Pakistan.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took notice and instructed authorities to ensure power supply during Ramadan, especially at dawn when Muslims begin the daylong fast, and at dusk, when they break it with an evening meal, the iftar.
