KOHAT: Hundreds of Peshawar Electric Supply Company consumers protested here the other day against the cutting off of power supply to 11 villages located on the border of Kohat and Hangu ‘without any reason’.

The protesters asked the Pesco executive engineer in Hangu and the Kohat division commissioner to take notice of the ‘inhuman’ act and order the restoration of power supply.

The residents of these villages are provided electricity from the Hangu side.

They regretted that Pesco had snapped the supply to thousands of consumers without providing any information to them about the reasons.

They said if the decision had been taken on the basis of power theft, then Pesco should have launched an operation against the power thieves and should not have punished the consumers, who paid their bills regularly.

POLICEMAN DIES: A police official, who was seriously injured during an exchange of fire with a drug smuggler in the mountains of Chakarkot Bala on Thursday night, succumbed to his injuries the other day.

Police had raided the hideout of notorious drug smuggler, Mujtaba belonging to Sheikhan village, on a tip-off. However, the drug dealer retaliated with an automatic weapon, leaving a policeman, Kashif, seriously injured.

He was taken to KDA Teaching Hospital, where doctors referred him to a Peshawar hospital. However, he succumbed to injuries.

Later, his funeral prayers were offered at the police lines here. Kohat division DIG Sher Akbar Khan and district police officer Farhan Khan were also in attendance

Meanwhile, members of Karwan-i-Kohat, a welfare body, and Grand Business Alliance demonstrated on Saturday to express solidarity with their Palestinian brothers and sisters being bombarded by Israeli army.

They condemned the US for ‘supporting’ bombardment by Israel of the helpless, innocent children, women and the elderly.

The rallies started from the Peshawar Square and passed through the main bazaar, with the protesters chanting slogans against Israel and the US and demanding an end to atrocities in Palestine.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party, Orakzai president Najeebur Rehman, who was arrested on Friday for allegedly instigating the tribesmen to protest against the delay in payment of compensation to the victims of a suicide blast in Doaba area of Hangu, was released on Saturday.

Mr Rehman had led the people to the main square in Hangu.

Published in Dawn, October 22th, 2023