TIMERGARA: Members of a jirga led by QWP lawmaker Bakht Baidar Khan on Wednesday pulled down three power pylons erected for supplying electricity to Shamozai (Swat) feeder from the Chakdara grid station here, and warned the Pesco of dire consequences if it didn’t halt work on the feeder.

On the other hand, the police registered cases against the people involved in bringing down the electricity poles, including leaders of political parties.

Members of the Adenzai Qaumi Jirga (AQJ) -- a representative body of political parties and elders -- after the meeting chaired by MPA Baidar Khan, went to the line supplying electricity to the Shamozai feeder and dismantled three electricity poles. The charged people wanted to dismantle more pylons, but a police team led by DSP Jehangir Khan pacified them by assuring that the matter would be resolved amicably.

Earlier, the jirga alleged that chief minister was hell-bent on building the Shamozai feeder on the advice of an adviser from Swat. The participants asked the lawmakers from Lower and Upper Dir and Malakand to persuade the government not to build the feeder. They said 14 feeders had already been connected to the Chakdara gird station, and addition of Shamozai feeder would further overload the grid resulting in excessive loadshedding in Dir and Malakand. They threatened to take people to roads if the government did not stop work on the feeder.

Meanwhile, speaking at a news conference at Chakdara Press Club, Bakht Baidar said the Lower Dir administration had withdrawn his security staff an hour after the incident. He said the district administration and chief minister would be responsible if anything bad occurred to him.

Meanwhile, Chakdara police on Wednesday registered cases against 21 political leaders and elders of Adenzai and Talash Qaumi Jirgas for pulling down the power pylons, under various sections of PPC and the electricity act, sources in police told Dawn.

Those charged included MPA Bakht Baidar, former provincial minister Shah Raz Khan, ANP Lower Dir president Hussain Shah Yousafzai, Adenzai tehsil nazim Qamar Zaman, PTI district president Fakhar-uz-Zaman, JI’s Sultanat Yar Advocate, district naib nazim Abdul Rashid Khan, president Talash Dushkhel Qaumi Jirga Ibrahim Khan, tehsil naib nazim Madat Khan, president Anjuman-i-Tajaran, Batkhela, Shakirullah, QWP district president Amanullah, district councillors from Adenzai and JUI-F’s Maulana Gul Rahim.

Sources said the police had been directed to register cases against over 250 people who took part in the protest.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2016