Batons in hands: Women forcefully stop traffic in protest

Child rights activist said children also bearing the brunt

MINGORA: Women, with batons in their hands, forcefully intercepted the vehicles and blocked GT Road for several hours in Mingora, to protest prolonged power outages.

“Electricity is essential to run household affairs, but unfortunately, the absence of power for 18 hours has caused inconvenience to women dealing with the chores at home,” child rights activitist, Neelam Ibrar, said during the protest on Wednesday. “Besides women, children are also on the receiving end of the miseries – some of them are falling ill because of not being able to bear the scorching heat.”

Therefore, she added, people have no other option but to protest against the unscheduled outages, while the Wapda authorities have yet to fulfill their legal demands.

The protesters marched through various streets and roads of Mingora, chanting slogans against the federal and provincial governments. They were also carrying placards inscribed with slogans against the
officials of Wapda.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Youth Wing President Asif Shehzad also addressed the protesters, saying people in Swat were fed up with the long hours of load-shedding. He added the federal government has turned a blind eye to the demands of the public.

“It is the responsibility of the federal government to cater to the growing need of power of people of the country,” Shehzad said.

The protesters also lashed out at adviser to the prime minister, Amir Muqam.

However, they dispersed after Swat Additional Assistant Commissioner Ehsanur Rehman assured them of minimising hours of power outages and fixing a proper schedule for load-shedding.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2016.