Sheikhan, Mushtarzai, Balarzai and Masho Khel along with 20 other villages are continuously deprived of electricity since the April 1. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL/ EXPRESS
The residents of Sheikhan union council (UC) have decided to boycott the general elections in protest against power cuts in their area since the last two weeks.
Four villages of the UC, namely Sheikhan, Mushtarzai, Balarzai and Masho Khel along with 20 others have been continuously deprived of electricity since the April 1 attack on Sheikh Muhammadi Grid Station.
Initially, residents of these villages burned all flags and posters of political parties and hoisted black flags on their houses. Now they have announced a boycott of the polls.
A local elder, while talking to The Express Tribune, said around 250 people took to the streets on Saturday evening. He claimed they even shattered the windscreen of an election candidate’s vehicle.
On Sunday, the villagers gathered in a hujra and held a meeting with the local SHO warning him of a breakdown of law and order if their problem was not solved on a priority basis. A six-member committee of elders was also formed to deal with the situation.
Khan Jan, an elder of Mushtarzai village, said there were an estimated 20,000 registered voters in their union council and claimed all the residents had decided to boycott the elections.
“We have put up black flags on our houses and no candidate is allowed to hoist his party flag in the village,” Jan said.
“We have been without electricity for the past 14 days and have been forced to drink polluted water from the local canal. It is natural that people would protest and disrupt law and order,” he argued.
However, the elder denied that an angry mob from his village stoned the vehicle of a local candidate.
He maintained the villagers had also decided to meet the assistant commissioner and deputy commissioner about the issue, adding they were committed to make the boycott a success if the problem remained unsolved.
In the April 1 attack, militants fired at least 15 rockets at the Sheikh Muhammadi Grid Station. After entering the building, they held the staff and police guards hostage and detonated several remote-controlled bombs, reducing the station to rubble.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2013.
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