GWADAR: A complete shutter down strike was observed in the port city of Gwadar on Friday over a shortage of drinking water.

Following a call for a strike by the Citizen Committee Gwadar, all bazaars, shops, business centres, shopping plazas, and private banks remained closed throughout the day in Gwadar city and surrounding areas.

The port city had been facing a water crisis for the last week, and despite the difficulties faced by the people, the authorities concerned did not take steps to resolve the water supply issue.

“Suspending water supply to Gwadar town is very strange, especially when all dams and reservoirs are full of water,” a leader of the Citizen Committee said, adding that the water crisis in the port city resulted from some dispute between the DG Gwadar Development Authority and officials of the Public Health Engineering.

Turbat sit-in called off

Meanwhile, the sit-in, which had continued for the last four days at D-Baloch Point in Turbat against the suspension of power supply to Mand, Tump, and other border areas for over a week, has been called off after successful negotiations.

Local authorities have agreed to implement a power loadshedding schedule of 14 hours a day and a monthly bill of Rs2,000.

The fourth round of negotiations was held between the protesters and the Qesco team, led by Kech Deputy Commissioner Hussain Jan Baloch.

Haji Mohammad Noor, the leader representing the protestors, announced the end of the sit-in as a consensus was reached during the negotiations. Traffic flow on the M8 highway was restored after it remained suspended for the past four days.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2023