By Fazal Khaliq
MINGORA: The excessive loadshedding sparked protests across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday with the participants complaining the electric supply remains suspended for long hours daily to their misery.
In Mingora, the people, including women, staged a rally against the prolonged power outages.
Holding placards and sticks and shouting slogans against Wapda and the federal government, the protesters marched from Saidu Sharif to Nishat Chowk in Mingora. They were later joined by the people from other areas.
Women holding batons blocked the road to Saidu Sharif and other destinations.
Protester Neelam Chattan said the women had stepped out to protest the excessive loadshedding lasting more than 18 hours a day.
She said men could cool themselves off by bathing in streams and rivers but women had to stay indoors to bear the scorching heat.
Another protester, Arshad Khattak, complained the unscheduled, excessive loadshedding lasting for long hours daily had paralysed life in Swat.
Youth in Nishat Chowk protest against massive loadshedding
PTI youth wing president Malik Asif Ali Shahzad insisted Swat was subjected to more power outages than other areas of the country and Wapda and the federal government were to blame for that injustice.
“I will raise the issue in the next district council session,” he said. The women protesters complained electric supply remained suspended even during Iftar and Sehar hours.
Councillor Iqbal Jehan said women were unable to do household chores due to the absence of electricity.
Youth activist Waqar Khan criticised the local political leaders for failing to ease the people’s misery.
He alleged that PML-N leader Amir Muqam was behind the excessive loadshedding in the province run by the rival PTI.
Some protesters complained that the PTI, which used to stage sit-ins over petty issues, was silent about the prolonged, unscheduled power cuts in Swat.
The mob later dispersed after AAC Ihsanur Rehman showed up and assured it of scheduled loadshedding in the region.
