Islamabad: Farmers staged a wheel-jam strike in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province on Monday in protest of long daily power outages.
Protesters blocked highways connecting the province with other parts of the country. Hundreds of trucks carrying supplies from the Karachi harbour for Nato troops in Afghanistan were also stranded, media reports said.
Farmers said their crops and orchards have suffered heavy damages because of suspension of electricity supply for 18 hours daily for the last three weeks, amid the continuing energy crisis in the country.
The strike followed the failure of the Balochistan government to make good its promise to the farming community thatpower will be normalised after power transmission lines were sabotaged by separatist Baloch militant groups.
About three weeks ago, seven towers of the main transmission line in the province were damaged in attacks by unidentified perpetrators.
Repair work could not immediately proceed due to security threats.
Officials said repair work will commence once adequate security measures are in place.
Work is expected to be completed in a week, paving the way for 15-hour daily supply of electricity to farmlands in the province.
