KARAK/TIMERGARA: The women of Tarkikhel, Badeenkhel and adjoining areas in Karak took to streets against on Monday to protest excessive loadshedding of electricity and gas and non-availability of drinking water.

Led by an elderly woman Zafran Bibi, the protesting women marched on Karak-Palosa Sar Road and blocked it at Ghundi Mir Khankhel to all kinds of traffic.

The protesters said that gas supply had been suspended to their areas for the last four months. They said that electricity was supplied to their areas only for an hour daily but its voltage was low.

They said that they were using wood for coking food in Ramazan owing to suspension of gas supply to their areas. They said that the district was receiving huge funds as oil and gas royalty but the local people were deprived of its benefits.

Set 24-hour deadline for resolution of their problems

The protesting women said that drinking water supply schemes were closed as it could not be operated without electricity and they were forced to fetch water from far off areas.

They said that it was a shame for the elected representatives and authorities concerned that women of a conservative district were forced to take to streets in the holy month of Ramazan.

They set a 24-hour deadline for resolution of their problems and threatened to satge sit-ins outside the houses of village nazims and district nazim after expiry of the deadline.

Later, a councillor managed to contact MPA Gul Sahib Khan through telephone and he assured the women of resolution of their problems. After the assurance, the protesting women dispersed peacefully.

In Lower Dir, hundreds of residents of different localities of Talash blocked Timergara-Peshawar Road to protest power outages.

Led by PTI leader Rehmanullah, Zakir Amin, Arshad Khan and Fazal Wahab, the villagers gathered at Talash bazaar and staged a sit-in there. They alleged that government and local lawmakers failed to solve the problem of low voltage and prolonged power outages.

They said that people had no option but to take to streets as they were facing power outage during Sehri and Iftar. They threatened to besiege Pesco installation if authorities failed to end unscheduled loadshedding till June 16.

Local sources said that residents of Maidan, Rabat and Jandol areas also held demonstrations to protest power outages. The protesters demanded of the federal government to decrease duration of power loadshedding in the holy month of Ramazan. They also asked the authorities ensure supply of electricity to them during Sehri and Iftar.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2016