CHITRAL: In response to calls from civil society organisations and all political parties, local residents started two sit-ins to protest the electricity loadshedding that left hundreds of commuters stranded on both sides of the Chitral-Peshawar road.

Hundreds of people gathered at Chumurkone village on Peshawar road and Atalique bridge in the city shortly after Friday prayers and blocked the roads.

Wajeehuddin (JI), Shahid Ahmed (PTI), Abdul Wali lawyer (PML-N), Nizar Wali Shah (PPP), Eidul Hussain (ANP), advocate Sajidullah (DBA), and Noor Ahmed Khan (traders union) were among those who spoke in Atalique Square.

The speakers said that local people joined under a single platform to oppose this injustice, and they would continue their sit-in until their demands were met. They strongly criticised the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) for the frequent and prolonged loadshedding of electricity in the district. They said that loadshedding was unnecessary because the Golen Gol Hydropower plant produced 108 megawatts of electricity.

The protesters totally blocked the road at both locations, and they had sent back the Lower Chitral deputy commissioner’s convoy that was travelling to Rumbur Valley with the coffin of Havaldar Mohammad Naseem of Chitral Levy, who lost his life in a traffic accident.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2024