DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The workers of Pakistan Peoples Party staged a sit-in at GPO Chowk here on Wednesday against outages of gas and electricity.

The sit-in lasted for more than two hours. PPP information secretary and candidate for NA-44 Faisal Karim Kundi and party’s candidates for PK-112 and PK-113 Ahmad Karim Kundi and Azizullah Khan Alizai, respectively, attended the sit-in.

Chief of Derawal Group and candidate for PK-113 Sohail Rajput and other local leaders including Shafiq Chaudhry, Fazal Baloch, Hashmat Rehman Sadozai and Farhan Leghari besides hundreds of PPP workers participated in the protest.

The participants of the sit-in were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against gas and electricity loadshedding. They also chanted slogans against Wapda and SNGPL.

Addressing the protesters, Faisal Karim Kundi said that people of Dera Ismail Khan were deprived of their basic necessities like electricity and gas. He alleged Wapda officials were involved in power theft.

He said that they would take to streets again if authorities failed to end outages of electricity and

gas. He said that PPP invited all political parties to participate in the protest as it was a common issue of people.

Protesters said that most of the urban and rural areas of Dera Ismail Khan were facing 16 to 20 hours of electricity loadshedding. They said that supply of gas also remained suspended to many areas while in some localities its pressure was low.

ACCIDENTS: A woman was killed and five people were injured in three different road accidents due to poor visibility and thick fog in Dera Ismail Khan.

A woman lost her life and three people got injuries when a car, they were travelling in, collided with a bus on Dera-Bhakkar road. The body and injured were shifted to hospital.

In another incident, an ambulance collided with a car near Umar Adda on Chashma road. A motorcyclist also collided with the same ambulance. As a result, the car driver and motorcyclist were injured.

Meanwhile, a van carrying staff of two government schools met an accident on Chashma road. However, all the staffers remained unhurt.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2024