Karak women protest power, gas outages

KARAK: The women here on Monday blocked the Indus Highway and other roads for three hours against unscheduled power and gas loadshedding.

The roads were reopened when the district administration promised to resolve their problems. The stick-wielding blocked the Indus Highway at Tangori Chowk against electricity and gas loadshedding. The women said gas was discovered in Karak, but the government had not provided the facility to the local people. They complained that gas pressure was so low that they could not use it for cooking, compelling them to use firewood.

The women also complained about the electricity loadshedding, saying that power outages had created a shortage of potable water. The protesting women also smashed the windowpanes of the vehicles that tried to cross the blockades. The protest caused gridlock on both sides of the Indus Highway for several kilometres. The passengers and patients faced severe hardships due to roadblock.

Meanwhile, the women from Karak city blocked the Karak-Bannu road at Pir Odeen Shah mosque and the link road at Algaddi area and literally disconnected district headquarters from the rest of the district for three hours.

All visitors to district headquarters faced severe hardships. Later, Additional Deputy Commissioner Karak Riaz Mahsud and Assistant Commissioner Karak Shah Jamil negotiated with the representatives of women protesters to persuade them to end the protest.

The officials assured the protesters that they would take up their issues with the Peshawar Electric Supply Company and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited high-ups to mitigate their sufferings. They added that till Ramazan Siraj Baba power gridstation would be made operational to resolve the issue of power cuts.

The officials promised that the gas pressure issue would also be resolved. On the assurance of district administration, the protesters dispersed peacefully.