Power crisis strikes rage on in Pakistan

Karachi: Widespread protests continued across the country against almost day-long power cuts as traders kept their shutters down on Saturday in Faisalabad, known as Pakistan’s Manchester for its thriving textile industry.

Protesters were seen roaming the streets with sticks and clubs and burning tyres on the roads.

Traders forcibly closed shops that tried to open and chanted anti-government slogans on the second consecutive day of the shutter down strike.

Traffic remained because markets were closed in a city where millions of labourers were left unemployed as thousands of spinning and ginning units were shut down due to the chronic electricity shortage.

Pakistan Tehreeke Insaf, the party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, marched on the roads of Peshwar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtun Khaw province, to protest 12 to 16 hour load shedding, part of the power shortage management programme of public generating and distribution companies.

Protests were also held in the cities of Mardan, Kohat, Swabi Charsada and Nowshera of the province where everyday life has been crippled by the lack of power.

Pakistan Electric Production Company (Pepco) sources said Saturday’s shortfall reached to 6,010 megawatts because of the private sector’s unwillingness to step in. Independent companies refuse to run at full capacity because they are owed billion of rupees by state-owned organisations.

Power generation stood at 17,450 megawatts, but supply was as low as 11,300, Pepco sources said.

Meanwhile the federal government decided to swap the ministerial portfolios by putting defence minister Ahmad Mukhtar in charge of power production and water instead of Naveed Qamar.