KOHAT: A large number of men and women from Union Council (UC) Shahpur held protest demonstration against the 22-hour-long gas and power load shedding at the police checkpoint on the Bannu bypass, which was still closed to traffic on Thursday.

The protesters said that they were compelled to purchase water tankers that didn’t meet their demands for washing, cooking, and bathing. They chanted slogans against the administration and lawmakers who had failed to address their issues for years despite their repeated requests to speak with Pesco and the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline’s officials to offer some respite and reduce outages to 12 hours, as had been agreed upon several years prior. The demonstrators said that the deal was being blatantly flouted by both Pesco and SNGPL, and blamed it on incompetent politicians.

They claimed that despite their pledges to help them, the local representatives and lawmakers did not even travel to the area after winning office.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2024