KARACHI: The Mutta­hida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan on Thursday claimed that K-Electric had agreed to bring an end to loadshedding in night hours after the party staged a protest outside the power utility’s head office in the Gizri area.

The party also warned to stage a comeback if the terms agreed between the two sides were not fulfilled under true spirit, with its leaders also assuring the citizens that the party was hopeful to bring down the tariff rate by Rs3.25 per unit after it had held successful talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz in Islamabad recently.

A large number of people, including women and children, gathered outside the KE headquarters in the second half of the day in line with the party’s call against electricity outages in different areas of the city and inflated power bills.

The protesters, led by senior party leader Dr Farooq Sattar and Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assmbly Ali Khur­sheedi, chanted slogan against the “inhuman loadshedding” in the metropolis and also questioned exorbitant tariff of the service being paid by the people of the business capital.

Carrying placards and banners, they also questioned the role of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority which had failed to take notice of the “poor performance of KE.”

As the protest continued, the KE management invited Dr Sattar and Mr Khursheedi for talks inside the headquarters and after an hour-long talk, the two leaders shared the agreed terms between the two sides and called it the first step towards a larger goal.

“The KE management has agreed that from now onwards, there would be no loadshedding in night hours,” said Dr Sattar. “Similarly, it has also promised to bring down the number of hours of loadshedding all across the city. We have forwarded all our proposals and demands and made it very clear that if the company backs out from its words, we would be back with stronger protest for an indefinite period,” he added.

Before the protesters dispersed peacefully, the MQM-P leaders also shared the brief details of their recent meeting with PM Shehbaz in Islamabad. They said the party leaders had demanded immediate relief in power bills for Karachiites and they were making an effort to bring down the tariff rate at least by Rs3.25 per unit.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2024