Blood produced electricity, eliminated all electrical defects and ended ostensible load-shedding/load-management

            Being the resident of the area where this tragic incident took place, I witnessed that as soon as the Police killed the innocent and peaceful protestors, not for a single minute of time the electricity supply was stopped to the consumers. The supply is continuous as the Government or WAPDA department might have made up the deficiency with a magic wand. This administration of affairs actually creates doubts in the minds of the people regarding Government claims/measures or WAPDA explanations. When the deficiency was really there or if there was any defect in the transmission of electricity then how everything became normal after the death of the protectors protesting genuinely.

            How many lives of innocent persons shall be sacrificed for the continuous supply of electricity? How long the law abiding citizens shall be compelled to take the law for their genuine rights despite paying regularly the electricity bills sent to them every Month?

            The Service Tribunal is in the Defence Colony in Peshawar Cantonment area. I attended Service Tribunal for two days on 27 and 28 July 2010 but there was no load-shedding there. I remained there from 8.30 A.M. till 2.00 P.M. but everything was so normal there as is now in my Village Marghuz.

            Even Mr. Pervaiz Khan MNA has endorsed this fact in a statement published in daily Marshriq that residents of village Topi were protesting against WAPDA peacefully when they were fired by ASP Headquarters Swabi and SHO Topi Aman Sher. They opened fire on the unarmed persons.

            Mr. Pervaiz Khan is requested to supervise the situations personally being fully aware of the legal procedures. The protestors were asking the WAPDA for doing justice. The supply of electricity should be kept continuous whatever may be the result because this continuity has been achieved at the cost of innocent lives. Electricity should be the priority of ANP because the leaders had made many promises regarding electricity before coming into power.

            Impartial Inquiry should be held of the incident and the guilty ones should not be excused on any cost and Police should be strictly directed to remain careful in future. It is a general tradition that Police always put the whole responsibility on the protesting persons while out rightly reject every charge against themselves.  

            Every resident of the area equally share the grief and sorrow with the affected families and demands from the Government for the sufficient compensation for the loss of the families mainly occurred due to the impatient and arrogant police.

Manzoor Ahmad Yousafzai

Dated: Saturday, August 07, 2010.

Swabi police kill three in gunfight with protestors

Statesman Report

SWABI: A protest about crippling electricity cuts in Swabi on Friday descended into a gunfight with police that left three civilians dead, officials said.

Clashes erupted in Swabi after police detained the organiser of the demonstration, which brought together about 500 people.

"Protesters attacked police and opened fire after we detained the organiser of the rally. At least three people were killed and three others wounded in the exchange of fire," local police official Mukhtiar Khan said.

Another local police official, Suleman Khan, confirmed the casualties.

Earlier, Topi sub-division of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) was set on fire by the angry people and turned to ashes the entire record.  People of Kotha, Zarobi and Topi participated in the protest demonstration. They gathered at Safdar Chowk on Swabi-Mardan road and blocked the road for all kind of traffic at Safdar junction-point.  From there they marched to the Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate Chowk and blocked the road there too. The Swabi-Topi and Topi-Gadoon remained blocked for all kind of traffic. They set on fire tyres there, chanting slogans against the Pesco officials.  They alleged that the Pesco officials did not give any heed to their repeated appeals and failed to stop the excessive outage.

Swabi unrest

Unfortunate was the incident in Topi, Swabi on Friday that left three persons dead and 10 injured. As the details would have it, the residents of the town came out on streets apparently to protest against the frequent power break-downs and prolonged hours of load management. As it sometimes happens on such occasions, the protesters were probably joined by a handful of miscreants which fuelled provocation and added to the collective anger. The unruly mob got out of control and at one stage police had to be called in to tame the wild crowd. Police tried to disperse the protesters by mild baton-charge but they became all the more violent. At this police opened fire thus initially killing three persons belonging to village Kotha. The firing incident incensed the crowd further and advancing ahead it set ablaze the local Wapda office. When these lines were being written on Friday evening, the situation in Topi and surrounding villages was tense as police conducted raids to round up the anti-social elements.

The anger against the load-shedding especially in the early August humidity and suffocation is perfectly understandable but the protesters should realise the fact that most of the infrastructure used by Wapda - grid stations, feeders, transmission lines and transformers - had either been destroyed or damaged by the monsoon rains and the resultant flood waters. In some areas the electric pylons and low transmission lines were partly intact but Wapda engineers had to suspend the power supply temporarily so as to save the lives of unwary villagers who ran the risk of getting electrocuted by wading through water and coming into contact with faulty poles. If the villagers lost their patience and came out on streets, the police should have shown some more tolerance. Impatience coupled with short-sightedness on both sides clearly led to the loss of three lives and caused bereavement in as many families of village Kotha.

PESHAWAR: A protest about cripping electricity cuts in Pakistan on Friday descended into a gunfight with police that left three civilians dead, officials said.

Clashes erupted in the northwestern town of Swabi after police detained the organiser of the demonstration, which brought together about 500 people.

“Protesters attacked police and opened fire after we detained the organiser of the rally. At least three people were killed and three others wounded in the exchange of fire,” local police official Mukhtiar Khan told AFP.

Another local police official, Suleman Khan, confirmed the casualties.

Pakistan faces a catastrophic energy crisis, making life unbearable and fuelling anger at a government already grappling with devastating flooding that has hit an estimated 4.5 million people and killed 1,600.

Officials from main power regulatory authority the Pakistan Electric Power Company say the country is only able to produce about 80 per cent of its electricity needs.

The shortfall has been blamed on corruption, short-sightedness, debts, a creaking distribution system and a lack of money to invest in renewable energy as demand grows. – AFP