KARACHI, Oct 19: The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation, land-controlling authorities along Sharea Faisal and the city government on Friday became embroiled in a controversy over the operational control and responsibility for maintenance of streetlights along one of the city’s major arteries.

The controversy was sparked by Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s protests over what she described as the deliberate switching off of the streetlights along Sharea Faisal on Thursday evening as her slow-moving motorcade wound its way towards the mausoleum of the Quaid-i-Azam.

Ms Benazir escaped unhurt but over 130 participants of her procession lost their lives when a suicide bomber struck near the Karsaz bridge on Sharea Faisal.

The PPP central information secretary, Sherry Rehman, had on Thursday condemned the KESC for switching off the streetlights hours before the suicide attack.

A spokesman for the KESC argued on Friday that the power utility was not responsible for running the streetlights in the city.

“Operation and maintenance of streetlights is the responsibility of local civic agencies. The KESC supplies electricity to the civic agencies at source and its distribution is their responsibility.”

He added that the KESC had taken extraordinary measures to maintain an uninterrupted supply of electricity to the Quaid’s mausoleum where Ms Benazir was to address a rally and to the Bilawal House where she lives. “The KESC is not responsible in any way if the streetlights on the way of the PPP procession were not functioning or had been switched off.”

Sources told Dawn that Sharea Faisal is controlled by several civic agencies, including the city government and cantonment boards.

However, they added, the entire road comes under the administrative control of the city government as the Sindh government had handed over its control to the now defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

“But other civic agencies lay claim to certain portions of Sharea Faisal because their charge huge land and tax advertisements from the owners of hoardings.”

An official of the Faisal Cantonment Board told Dawn that operation and maintenance of streetlights along Sharea Faisal was the responsibility of the city government.

City Nazim Mustafa Kamal also conceded that the operation and maintenance of streetlights on Sharea Faisal was the responsibility of the city government.

“But the streetlights at the place of the suicide attack were properly working. It is wrong to say that the suicide bomber struck by taking advantage of darkness,” he added.

“Some streetlights on Sharea Faisal may have been off and we will find out why they were not on,” he said.