Electrocution deaths: As Nepra slaps KE on the wrist, victims’ families demand justice

Political parties pledge support to protesters, ask SC to take up the matter

KARACHI: The families of the 22 victims, who died from electrocution in the wake of the first spell of monsoon rain in Karachi, staged a protest on Friday outside the Supreme Court's Karachi registry, praying to the court to provide justice. Meanwhile, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has asked the K Electric (KE) to consider compensation for the families of the victims, who lost their lives due to electric shocks.

Nepra spokesperson Saud said that a team of KE, headed by its CEO, appeared before the Nepra officials on Thursday and explained the power utility's position with respect to the failure of power supply and fatal accidents due to electrocution during the recent torrential rain on July 29 and July 30.

Outside the SC, members of the victims' families shouted slogans against the KE, saying their innocent children had gone out to play in the rain but never returned. We beg the court for justice, they said.

Social activist Zafar Abbas said that the people had died due to the KE's incompetence. "Citizens of Karachi were taking out their children's funeral processions in the rain," said Abbas. "The KE has started tyranny and cruelty. It is running advertisements in the media that the people who died due to electrocution were trying to attach illegal electricity connections," lamented Abbas, adding that the police have also refused to register FIRs against the KE.

"Further rainfall is expected to start today," said Abbas. "The bodies will not be buried if anyone dies as a result of electrocution from now onwards. We will place the body outside the Supreme Court," he warned.

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman also met the victims' families and assured them of their full support. The mayor said that he would help the families register cases against the KE.

JI's Rehman told the media that they will fight a legal war against the KE. "We have gathered outside Supreme Court to get justice," he said, adding that the children had died because of the K-Electric. Referring to Justice Gulzar Ahmed's remarks during the hearing of a petition against the KE on Wednesday, Rehman said they were the voice of citizens. "K-Electric's forensic audit should be done," he demanded, adding that people only wanted to do politics over the matter. Rehman also recalled that hundreds of people had lost their lives during the heatwave due to the KE's incompetence.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2019.