SWABI, Sept 9: The leaders of a newly launched movement have demanded of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to give due share to Swabi district in the royalty on generation of electricity.

The leaders of the movement, Jaag Swabi Jaag (JSJ), told the participants of a meeting here on Sunday to stop paying electricity bills till restoration of uninterrupted power supply by Peshawar Electric Supply Company.

The residents of Kalu Khan, Ismaila and Adina union councils attended the meeting. They said that it was their right to get smooth power supply as people of the district had rendered sacrifices for construction of Tarbela Dam.

The JSJ is consisted of former union council nazims but it is not clear as to who played pivotal role in its formation. However, the leaders of the new group criticise severely major political parties, especially Awami National Party, while highlighting problems of the people.

Afsar Ali, who contested election for the slot of district nazim during Musharraf government, presently leads the movement.

Ijaz Khalid and other prominent union council nazims are also members of JSJ.

The participants of the meeting said that they had already launched a door-to-door campaign against payment of electricity bills. They said that another meeting would be held in Tarakai and Turlandi union councils that would be followed by other union councils of the district.

“There will be no problem of loadshedding or low voltage, if the provincial government gives share in power royalty to the district,” said Mr Ali. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Khalid said that they succeeded in getting support of people belonging to different walks of life. He said that it was a great achievement that members of local jirgas extended support to them.

Sources said that the new group was eying the upcoming general elections as it had made remarkable progress during the last two months since its inception.

Meanwhile, local leaders of Awami National Party have already discussed the emergence of the new group to come out with a counter strategy. The group is active in ANP-dominated areas.

“We know about the leaders, who launched JSJ movement. We are also aware of their motives. Let the elections come.

Everybody will see their fate because people know who is opportunist and who has come from real political parties. Such groups also surfaced in the past and disappeared after some time,” said one of the ANP leaders.