Protest: Women of Mullagori make history

JAMRUD:

In a first, over a hundred women in the Mullagori area of Khyber Agency’s Jamrud tehsil took to the streets on Tuesday to protest against prolonged power outages.

The tribal women, led by 70-year-old Nihara Bibi, blocked traffic for around two hours near Marble Chowk.

Addressing protesters aged between 10 and 70, Nihara Bibi accused the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) of intentionally diverting electricity meant for their areas to other places. She alleged Mullagori’s entire power supply had been redirected to Michni Kotaro area in Mohmand Agency.

She said women were forced to walk three kilometres to fetch water due to a severe shortage in the area and blamed Siyar Khan, Mullagori’s power grid supply in-charge, for diverting electricity to his own agency.

Nihara Bibi threatened the women would stage a protest on the Pak-Afghan Highway if the government did not transfer him within a week. The women later dispersed peacefully after Shakeel Khan Umerzai, an official of Mullagori’s political administration, assured them their demands would be taken seriously.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2013.