July 13, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 27, 1428

DIR/LANDI KOTAL, July 12: People of different localities and villages in the Dir Upper district and the Khyber Agency continued to hold demonstrations on Thursday in protest against the unscheduled loadshedding in their areas.

Hundreds of people blocked the Dir-Peshawar road for three hours in Amiri Kass and chanted slogans against Pesco.

As a result, passengers faced difficulties in reaching their destinations.

The protesters severely criticised the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) for protracted loadshedding in the Dir Upper district.

They said the people had shown great patience, but the authorities concerned did not respect them as they had instead increased the duration of loadshedding.

The protesters reopened the road on the assurance of the Dir deputy superintendent of police and the Pesco sub-divisional officer.

A large number of people from Tarpatar, Jabar, Darora and Palam union councils gathered in Darora and blocked the Dir-Peshawar road for three hours.

Darora Nazim Noor Mohammad Khan, Bibiawar Nazim Bakht Zada Khan, Naib Nazim Nizamuddin, Mian Iftikhar of the ANP, Malik Bahram Khan of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Jihan Yousaf and others condemned the unscheduled loadshedding.

They said the authorities concerned had failed to bring an end to the unscheduled loadshedding forcing them to come out on roads.

They alleged that district officers had been encouraging the grid station staff to continue loadshedding.

They threatened that they would fell electricity poles and boycott the upcoming budget session of the district council if the authorities failed to stop loadshedding by July 18.

Khyber Agency: Residents of Sadokhel, Sultankhel and Nek Khel blocked the Peshawar-Torkhum road for several hours in protest against the disruption of power supply to Landi Kotal and its adjoining areas.

Residents of Landi Kotal and Jamrud tehsil spent a sleepless night as power supply was disrupted due to a technical fault in the main distribution line.

The power failures caused immense hardships for local residents, especially women and children.

People also faced water shortage due to power failure.

Enraged residents of Sadokhel, Sultankhel and Nek Khel came out on the road and blocked the Peshawar-Torkhum road for five hours.

A number of Afghan families were stranded due to the road blockade and braved the scorching sun for several hours.

Landi Kotal assistant political agent Said Ahmad Aurakzai told Dawn that he was in constant touch with Tesco officials for an early restoration of power supply.

Residents of Loe Shalman also suffered a lot due to power disruption with most of them taking refuge under shady trees.

Residents of the area complained that they were subjected to long hours of unannounced loadshedding by the Landi Kotal grid station staff.

They accused them of taking bribes from other areas for continued supply of electricity.