CHARSADDA, Oct 29: A jirga attended by people from a cross section of society on Tuesday threatened to boycott the anti-polio campaign if the 18-hours electricity loadshedding was not stopped forthwith.

Local politicians, traders, civil society members, lawyers, and a large number of elders attended the jirga held at the office of the Pesco executive engineer in Shabqadar.

Prominent among those who attended the jirga were Qaumi Watan Party provincial joint secretary Mohammad Jan Gagyani, Anjuman-i-Tajiran president Haji Syed Rahim Shah Bacha, vice president Akbar Hussain, Business Forum president Mukamil Shah and others.

The participants said that prolonged and unscheduled loadshedding had compounded their problems. They said worst hit were traders and students. Through a unanimous resolution the participants of the jirga decided to boycott the anti-polio drives in protest.

The jirga also set up a 12-member committee to sort out the issue of loadshedding with Pesco authorities. — Correspondent