KHYBER: Scores of tribesmen, including councillors and politicians, blocked the main road leading to the Torkham border in Landi Kotal on Friday to protest ‘prolonged’ electricity loadshedding.

The protesters established a protest camp at the Hamza Baba Chowk, holding black flags and banners and chanting slogans against the officials of the local grid station.

They accused the grid station staff of subjecting them to almost 20 hours of loadshedding and low voltage.

They demanded immediate transfer of the grid station staff for what they said taking bribes from influential people to provide them with ‘uninterrupted’ power supply.

They also demanded an end to ‘cutting system’ adopted by the grid staff to provide electricity to different localities on rotation, while subjecting far-flung localities to prolonged blackouts.

The road blockade was ended late in the evening after some local elders persuaded them to end agitation as road closure also harmed local population.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2022