‘Inhumane’ disruption: Power outages cripple life in Khyber agency

Tesco employees say supply is blocked from Peshawar and Hyderabad.

KHYBER AGENCY: Electricity supply remains suspended in Khyber agency for the last two days.

A grid station employee while requesting anonymity said Tribal Electric Supply Company (Tesco) chief has issued clear-cut instructions to the grid station officials throughout Fata to provide one hour of electricity per day. He said the employees could do nothing to counter outages since supply had been blocked from Peshawar and Hayatabad grid stations.

The employee also maintained that grid station officials were bound to obey the orders of senior officials, as important decisions had already been taken in a meeting between the Tesco chief and grid officials from all over Fata.

This has created another serious problem – lack of potable water. All tube wells in Landikotal are now dysfunctional due to excessive power outages.  Local people have described outages as ‘discrimination’ against tribal people. They strongly condemned the Tesco chief’s decision saying that the outages had left them with unmet water needs. They demanded the government to take strong notice of the situation.

Political stance

Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) central council member from Khyber Agency Qari Jehad Shah Afridi said the tactics of Tesco officials may compel tribal people to further disrupt life in Fata. He was of the view that Tesco officials should be held responsible if Fata’s angry population takes the law into their own hands. He also warned that JUI-F will protest on the Pak-Afghan Highway and stop Nato supplies if electricity was not restored. He said people in Jamrud and Landikotal, due to the ‘inhumane’ power outages, had been deprived of their basic rights.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President of Khyber Agency Haji Iqbal Afridi echoed JUI-F’s stance as he said Tesco officials were involved in conspiracies against the tribal people, since they sold electricity to industries in Hayatabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st,  2011.