Vexed by loadshedding: Pro-Hazara province party calls for civil disobedience

Says Hazara faces more outages; tells people not to pay electricity bills.

ABBOTABAD:

The Tehreek-e-Suba Hazara Party has decided to launch a civil disobedience movement against the government and asked the people of Hazara to stop paying electricity bills.

This decision will remain effective till the end of loadshedding in Hazara division, said Baba Haider Zaman, the party chief, while addressing a news conference on Thursday.

Zaman asked the people to “not pay a single penny” as electricity bill to the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), and to “hanged upside down” any Wapda employee who comes to disconnect their power meters on the basis of non-payment.

The party chief said that a number of small and large-scale power projects, including Tarbela Dam, Khanpur Dam and Ghazi Barotha Dam were launched on the land belonging to the people of Hazara, “but even after sacrificing the graves of their ancestors and fertile land in the larger national interest, they have been worst hit by loadshedding.”

Zaman claimed that the duration of loadshedding in Hazara was the highest as compared to other parts of the province. “It is only so because the rulers both in the province and centre are out to suppress the demand of the Hazara province,” he alleged.

The party chief said that loadshedding has crippled life in Hazara and increased unemployment as local businesses and industries affected by power outages are cut down costs by reducing manpower. He said that even though Wapda authorities recover over 97% of electricity bills from across Hazara division, the locals are being “punished” for demanding a separate province.

Zaman said he has been forced to take such a step as the government failed to deliver during its four-and-half-year tenure.

He, however, resolved that his movement will bring positive results in the near future.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2012.