CHARSADDA/SHANGLA: Residents, traders and leaders of various political parties after attending an all-parties conference (APC) on Wednesday staged a protest against prolonged and unannounced electricity outage in Charsadda.

The protesters locked the office of the executive engineer, Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco), besides blocking the main road.

The protesters also set up tents outside the Pesco office and demanded an immediate end to prolonged power outages and frequent tripping, saying the situation had become unbearable amid the ongoing heatwave.

The demonstration was attended by representatives of Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Jamaat-i-Islami, Qaumi Watan Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, traders’ organisations and other local groups.

Speakers said that the prolonged power outages disrupted daily life, caused water shortage and created difficulties for households, particularly women.

They said children, women, elderly people and patients were facing hardships due to the intense heat.

The protesters alleged that despite repeated assurances by Pesco officials, unannounced loadshedding and frequent tripping continued in the area.

They demanded transfer of the Pesco executive engineer and warned that the protest would be expanded if uninterrupted electricity supply was not restored.

Later, the protest ended after negotiations between representatives of the protesters and Pesco officials, who assured the protesters of reducing the duration of power outage.

KKH BLOCKED: Residents blocked the Karakoram Highway in the Bisham bazaar to protest prolonged power suspension.

The residents of Bisham city and its adjacent areas, who were enraged by the prolonged power suspension due to some technical fault in the supply line from the grid station, gathered on the KKH at Bisham Chowk and blocked it for five hours.

They protesters chanted slogans against the local MNA, MPAs and Pesco for their failure to resolve power related issues.

Traders Union, political and civil society members including Abbas Khan, Hamad Khan, Guldad Khan and others addressed the protesters, saying that Pesco and elected public representatives had failed to resolve their issues.

Later, the protesters dispersed after the fault was fixed and electricity restored.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2026