Let there be light!
Citizens take to the streets against power cuts.
MULTAN/GUJRAT:
Locals in several districts have been rioting against load shedding and power cuts.
According to eyewitnesses, hundreds of people in Khanewal blocked Karachi-Lahore GT Road protesting against power cuts. “The crowd began pelting the police with stones and bricks. They broke windows and set cars on fire,” said a tehsil municipal administration official (TMA) officer Rehmat Babar.
Police officials opened fire on the crowd injuring two protesters. Another protest occurred near the DHQ hospital at the Jahanian bypass, where 300 people protested against load shedding and said that they had been living without electricity for the last 22 hours. “We have had no water and people have been passing out from heat as well as dehydration. We will burn the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) offices if that’s what it takes to get their attention,” said a protester Muneeb Rana.
Eyewitnesses said that long queues of vehicles were witnessed parked on both sides of the roads. “Many commuters ended up joining the protesters in the riots against the police,” said a shopkeeper Mehtab Khan. Protesters pelted Khanewal police with stones when they tried to clear the road and the police baton charged the crowd before opening fire. The injured were rushed to the DHQ hospital. During the clash, two police officials Abdul Majeed and Naseer were also injured. In Multan, dozens of protesters complained that half of the city was cloaked in darkness after power outages. “There has been no electricity for over 23 hours. We have all been trying to complain to Mepco but the gates are locked and there is nothing we can seem to,” the protesters said. Multan city’s major grid stations have not been working for several hours and in many areas people are running out of drinking water. People protested at Vehari chowk. In Gujrat, protesters at Fawara Chowk vandalised a WAPDA complaint office in Murghzar colony and burnt furniture.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2011.
Locals in several districts have been rioting against load shedding and power cuts.
According to eyewitnesses, hundreds of people in Khanewal blocked Karachi-Lahore GT Road protesting against power cuts. “The crowd began pelting the police with stones and bricks. They broke windows and set cars on fire,” said a tehsil municipal administration official (TMA) officer Rehmat Babar.
Police officials opened fire on the crowd injuring two protesters. Another protest occurred near the DHQ hospital at the Jahanian bypass, where 300 people protested against load shedding and said that they had been living without electricity for the last 22 hours. “We have had no water and people have been passing out from heat as well as dehydration. We will burn the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) offices if that’s what it takes to get their attention,” said a protester Muneeb Rana.
Eyewitnesses said that long queues of vehicles were witnessed parked on both sides of the roads. “Many commuters ended up joining the protesters in the riots against the police,” said a shopkeeper Mehtab Khan. Protesters pelted Khanewal police with stones when they tried to clear the road and the police baton charged the crowd before opening fire. The injured were rushed to the DHQ hospital. During the clash, two police officials Abdul Majeed and Naseer were also injured. In Multan, dozens of protesters complained that half of the city was cloaked in darkness after power outages. “There has been no electricity for over 23 hours. We have all been trying to complain to Mepco but the gates are locked and there is nothing we can seem to,” the protesters said. Multan city’s major grid stations have not been working for several hours and in many areas people are running out of drinking water. People protested at Vehari chowk. In Gujrat, protesters at Fawara Chowk vandalised a WAPDA complaint office in Murghzar colony and burnt furniture.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2011.