Women protest power outages in Dir

TIMERGARA: Dozens of burqa-clad women in Talash area of Lower Dir district on Thursday staged a protest against low voltage and long hours power outages.

Later, hundreds of men from the area also gathered on the spot to protest the power shutdown. The protesters blocked Peshawar-Timergara Road for more than five hours, starting from 10am up to 3:30pm in front of the Talash Police Station amid scorching heat.

After the long blockade when none of the local administration officials came for negotiations, the protesters pelted Talash Police Station with stones, damaging vehicles parked inside the station.

Lower Dir District Police Officer (DPO) Arif Shahbaz Khan Wazir, Assistant Commissioner Adenzai Tariq Khan, DSP Timergara Fakhr-e-Alam Khan and officials from Dir Task Force (DTF) and Pesco later rushed to the spot and held negotiations with the protesters.

The officials assured the protesters that their grievances would be addressed at the earliest, after which they agreed to open the road for general traffic.

Lower Dir is facing worst kind of unscheduled loadshedding for about 18 hours on a daily basis. Protest rallies were also staged in Charsadda, Mardan and other districts against the unannounced loadshedding.