One killed as Pakistanis protest power cuts

At least one protester has been killed and many others injured in a series of violent demonstrations against power cuts in several towns across northwestern Pakistan.

The deputy commissioner of Malakand district, Zafar Ali Shah, said that hundreds of protesters had burned and rampaged through government offices and police checkpoints across the troubled region on Monday.

The angry demonstrators also snatched valuables and police weapons. They tried to burn a main power station in the town of Dargai in Malakand district.

"We have complained to the power distributors to end the unscheduled outages, but they're not listening to us," media outlets quoted the deputy commissioner as saying.

Similar clashes also took place in northwestern cities of Peshawar, Charsadda and Swat.

Police official Nasir Khan said protesters poured into the streets for the third day of rallies and set roadblocks in Peshawar. He added that at least two offices of the power supply department were ransacked during the fierce clashes.

 Provincial lawmaker Fazl-e-Rabbi said in Peshawar that the protests would continue until the federal government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ends disparity in the power distribution.

The protesters have been angered by the daily 10-12 hours of power cuts in the summer heat during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Pakistan is dealing with a major energy crisis. But in recent years, the problem has gone from bad to worse.

People in some parts of the country have to deal with 18 to 20 hours of power outages. Ordinary Pakistanis are now calling on authorities to come up with urgent plans to tackle the problem. 

Pakistani activists and main opposition parties have blamed Premier Sharif for the ongoing energy and power crisis in the country.

They accuse Sharif, who has close links with the Saudis and the US, of trying to wriggle out of its commitment to build a planned gas pipeline from Iran. They maintain that Pakistan will overcome ongoing energy crisis with Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project.

The premier spent nearly seven years in political exile in Saudi Arabia and has close personal ties with royal families of the Persian Gulf Arab countries.

The project has been set back for years because of US and Saudi opposition.

Iran’s gas delivery should have started in December 2014 but Pakistan has failed to complete its section of the pipeline under the contract signed back in 2010.

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