Police book residents after protest over two-day power outage

Police have registered a case against dozens of residents who staged a peaceful protest outside the Deputy Commissioner's residence after a faulty electricity transformer left their neighbourhood without power and water for two days during extreme heat.

According to police, the protest was held by residents of Khalida Abad after repeated complaints over the damaged transformer allegedly failed to draw any response from the power utility.

The residents first demonstrated outside the WAPDA Complex on T-Road, demanding the immediate replacement of the transformer and restoration of electricity.

When no action was taken, they marched to the official residence of Deputy Commissioner Noorul Ain at around 10pm, accompanied by children, elderly family members and other residents.

The protesters said they remained outside the Deputy Commissioner's residence, demanding the restoration of electricity and water supplies, but claimed no official responded to their grievances.

They dispersed peacefully after waiting for several hours.

Police said that nearly 12 hours later, on the instructions of the deputy commissioner, Civil Lines police registered a case against four named individuals, Syed Iftikhar Safdar, Ali Shah, Adnan Sheikh and Khalil Ahmad, as well as 50 unidentified persons.

The FIR, lodged on the complaint of Assistant Sub-Inspector Yasir Iqbal, includes charges under multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code relating to unlawful assembly, rioting, obstruction of public servants and criminal intimidation, along with provisions of the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960.

The protesters rejected the allegations, describing the case as an attempt to suppress citizens peacefully demanding basic public services.

They said the FIR contained "baseless and exaggerated" accusations, alleging that police falsely claimed the demonstrators were armed with sticks and had attempted to damage electricity poles.

The residents questioned why legal action had been taken against protesters instead of officials responsible for the prolonged power outage.

They also criticised what they described as the silence of local political representatives, including federal minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain and Punjab minister Chaudhry Shafay Hussain, and demanded that the case be withdrawn immediately.

No official response from the district administration or the power utility regarding the protesters' allegations was immediately available.