CHITRAL: The residents of Reshun Village in Upper Chitral on Friday issued a five-day ultimatum to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to fulfill its commitment about subsidised electricity tariff or else they would block the Shandur Road.
The decision was reached during a public meeting held after Friday prayers at Ramdas Chowk in Reshun.
The event was chaired by Syed Sardar Hussain known as Shah Sahib and addressed by former union nazim Amirullah, Sahib Ur Rehman and Abdur Rab.
The speakers expressed resentment over what they termed a complete betrayal of trust by the local MPA and deputy speaker of KP assembly Suraiya Bibi.
The community leaders reminded the administration that they had deferred their protest 40 days ago during the Shandur festival only after receiving a written assurance from the deputy speaker.
Highlighting the long-standing grievances, the village elders said that Reshun had been the worst-hit locality in the entire district, bearing the brunt of devastating glacial lake outburst floods (Glof) and severe river inundation over recent years.
They added that the community’s hardships compounded during the construction of the 4.2-megawatt hydropower station by the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation, adding that the local landowners and residents were never properly compensated.
According to residents, the authorities had pledged that the electricity tariff for the flood-affected Reshun Village would be fixed at a subsidised rate of Rs7 per unit but instead the community was currently being charged at Rs28 per unit.
“We will block the Shandur Road If the provincial government failed to honour its pledge within five days” a protester said.
The Shandur Road links Upper Chitral with Gilgit-Baltistan and the lower parts of the province, its blockade would sever administrative and transit connections between Upper Chitral and the rest of the country.
This correspondent made efforts to contact deputy speaker Suraiya Bibi on her mobile phone but she was unavailable.
Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2026