Ferocious protests over power outages shake Punjab

 

By Nasir Jamal 

LAHORE: Violent protests erupted in several districts of Punjab, mainly in Jhang, as traders observed a province-wide shutter-down strike against frequent disruptions in power supply. Reports from different parts of the province said the protesters blocked highways and city roads and staged demonstrations and sit-ins and damaged public and private property.
The protests were not confined to Punjab. Other regions of the country also saw crowds of people taking to the streets in what can be called the biggest countrywide protests against loadshedding.
In Karachi, protesters besieged the head office of the Karachi Electric Supply Company for some time to vent their anger over suspension of power supply in several localities since Saturday night’s rains.
In Peshawar, protesters blocked the Peshawar-Kohat Road and the GT Road, disrupting flow of traffic for several hours. They also burnt tyres and shouted slogans against the government and the Pakistan Electric Supply Company (Pepco).
People in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Chakwal and Attock suffered enormous problems as transporters kept their vehicles off the road to protest against high fuel prices and in support of a strike call against loadshedding.
Jhang was the worst hit district in Punjab where a mob went on rampage, burning down three coaches of a train and attacking Fesco offices and a police post. Police stood by as protesters damaged public and private property worth millions of rupees. Before torching the Sandal Express, the highly-charged crowd held demonstrations in different places of the city and torched two police vehicles, stormed and damaged the Fesco office. They also smashed windows of a private bank.
The call for a strike given by pro-Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz traders drew a partial response in the province. Traders in the central and northern districts of the province completely or partially kept their shutters down. But the call went unheeded in most of the southern districts of the province.
Two groups of traders clashed in Lahore when organisers of the strike tried to force some shopkeepers to close down their shops on the Mall.
The protesters attacked a train in Faisalabad and injured its driver. But police dispersed them by shelling tear gas. Police fired in the air and lobbed tear gas shells in Chiniot to block protesters from approaching a Pepco grid station.
In Okara, protesters were blocking the train traffic till the filing of this report.
Offices of distribution companies in Multan, Depalpur, Hujra Shah Muqeem and Lahore were also attacked. A Pepco spokesman said rioters had smashed furniture, but did not damage the record.
Police arrested scores of protesters from different districts and registered cases against them for damaging public and private property. Sardar Zulfikar Khosa, Senior Adviser to the Punjab chief minister, told a press conference on Tuesday that the government would register cases against all those found involved in violence in different parts of the province.
He said every citizen had a right to peaceful protest, but nobody could be allowed to take the law into his hands.
Although the traders’ call for strike was not backed by any political party, the Tehrik-i-Insaaf and Jamaat-i-Islami activists were actively involved in the violent protest in several districts. In Lahore, a police official said the pro-PML-N activists were involved in clashes with anti-strike traders.
In the wake of reports of violent protests across the country, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani constituted a ministerial committee to look into public complaints of electricity breakdowns. At the same time he expressed his inability to bridge the gap between demand and supply, saying it was not a commodity that he could buy and give to the people.

DAWN: Wednesday, 22 Jul, 2009