KARAK: The students of the Government Postgraduate College Karak locked the main gate of the campus and blocked Bannu Road on Thursday to protest the prolonged power outages in the area.

The protesters said the excessive loadshedding lasting 20 hours daily had stressed them out especially when their final examinations were at hand.

They complained the hostels had no alternative arrangement for electric supply to the misery of their residents.

The protesters demanded a separate power line for the college’s hostels to ensure smooth electric supply at night.

They later unlocked the gate and cleared the road after the tehsil administration’s officials approached them and assured them of early corrective measures.

Also in the day, the people of Gurguri area took to the streets against low gas pressure and blocked the main Gurguri-Tall Road for several hours.

Shouting slogans against the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, the protesters led by district councillor Maulana Daud Shah and local elders demonstrated outside the Gurguri gas plant premises. On the occasion, the speakers said it was unfortunate that Gurguri was the largest gas producer in the country but its residents were subjected to low gas pressure.

They added that the people used firewood to make food.

The protesters dispersed after the assistant commissioner of Banda Daud Shah tehsil showed up and assured them of smooth supply of gas with high pressure.

DAY OF BOOKS: The International Day of Books and Copyright was marked by the Department of Library and Information Sciences of the Khushal Khan Khattak University Karak here on Thursday.

A special ceremony was held on campus for the purpose, where Professor Rahim Jan, Professor Ghalib Khan, lecturers Mohammad Hussain and Izhar Mohammad, and students of the Library and Information Sciences Department were in attendance. The speakers said the importance of books had not decreased in the current modern communication times.

They said the importance of books was globally recognised and that books had played a basic role in the development of nations.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2016