MUZAFFARABAD: Civil society activists staged separate demonstrations here to condemn unscheduled loadshedding in Ramazan, terming it a manifestation of “worst colonial attitude” by Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco).

“The federal ministry of water and power should take immediate stock of the cruel treatment meted out to the people of Muzaffarabad by Wapda and Pesco,” said Zahid Amin, whose Muzaffarabad City Development Foundation (MCDF) had organised a demonstration in the main old city late Saturday night.

It may be mentioned here that lately the duration of power outages in the AJK capital has excessively increased and what adds fuel to the fire is the absence of any schedule for it, which causes great deal of inconvenience to the faithful particularly at the time of Taraveeh and Sehri.

‘Shroud wearing’ rally to be staged on Friday

On Saturday night, power supply to Muzaffarabad remained suspended for more than 10 hours at one stretch, multiplying the anger of its residents.

Protesters claimed that during the past 48 hours, they had seen light hardly for a total of 10 hours.

“Muzaffarabad is home to four mega hydropower generation projects and such an unkind treatment with it is manifestation of colonial and imperialistic attitude,” said Mr Amin, who has previously led several demonstrations to the Wapda-manned faulty grid station on the same issue.

Accusing the AJK government of acting like a silent spectator, he demanded access for AJK’s Electricity Department and Power Development Organisation to all hydroelectric projects and grid stations in the region so as to keep them updated on the power supply situation.

“A complete overhaul of AJK departments is also need of the hour so that they are able to deal with such situations efficiently,” he said.

Unlike Mr Amin, protesters at another demonstration however made scathing criticism of the AJK government for its “indifference” towards the plight of its people in the face of excessive power outages.

“People in AJK are suffering at the hands of Wapda, but our rulers are enjoying themselves either in foreign countries or in the air-conditioned rooms of Kashmir House,” said Khawaja Atif Bashir, a young leader of ruling Peoples Party at a demonstration staged on CMH Road on Sunday.

He was referring to AJK President Sardar Yaqoob Khan, who is in Japan, and Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed who is in Islamabad these days.

“They (AJK rulers) don’t have any realisation of the problems being faced by their people in this holy month, but let it be known to them and Wapda that enough is enough,” he said.

He alleged that Wapda was subjecting the AJK capital to worst kind of injustice and discrimination, which could hardly be tolerated.

Mr Bashir warned that if loadshedding was not done rationally and in accordance with an already announced schedule, no one could stop AJK people from turning violent.

He declared that if this issue was not resolved over the next three to four days, people from different walks of life would stage a “shroud-wearing” rally from Upper Adda to New Civil Secretariat on Friday.

“At the end of the rally, symbolic funeral prayers of the incompetent AJK government will also be offered,” he added.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2014