KARACHI: Citizens of Lyari, including women and children, who were joined by Edhi Foundation’s Faisal Edhi, took out a protest rally against prolonged loadshedding in the old city areas on Sunday.

The rally started from Ath Chowk amid scorching heat at 2pm and after passing through different routes reached the Karachi Press Club (KPC). Earlier, Faisal Edhi joined the protest briefly in Lyari.

Speaking to the media on this occasion, Mr Edhi said that several people had died of suspected heatstroke in the metropolis as the Edhi Foundation’s mortuaries were filled with bodies. However, the government was saying that only ‘12 to 13’ people had died, which was a ‘misrepresentation’ of facts, he added.

He said that most of the bodies had been brought to their mortuaries from the localities where citizens were suffering from agonising loadshedding for prolonged hours.

Faisal Edhi says bodies have been brought to mortuaries from areas where citizens are suffering from agonising power cuts

He demanded that FIRs of such deaths be registered and the heirs of the victims should be provided with compensation.

Later, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPA Sajjad Soomro also joined the protesters at the KPC.

Addressing the protesters at the KPC, leaders of a non-governmental organisation Lyari Bachao Tehreek, Sabir Baloch, Parveen Naz, Bashir Baloch and others said that for last four months, they were suffering from loadshedding for up to 18 hours.

The outages had increased peoples’ mental agony and destroyed future of youths who could not prepare even for exams, they added.

The speakers claimed that for the last five days, a total of 1,076 people had died in Karachi due to suspected heatstroke and most of the deaths had occurred in localities where up to 18 hours of loadshedding was underway.

They said that that fact had also been confirmed by the Edhi Foundation.

The protesters demanded cancellation of the licence of the KE and warned of non-payment of bills and setting fire to electric meters in different parts of the city as part of their protest movement.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2024