Residents of Karachi came out on the streets in the late hours of Monday to protest against the unannounced and prolonged load-shedding in their areas.
On Tuesday morning, the police used tear gas and baton-charged protestors in an effort to disperse the crowd, which resulted in a clash between the two.
According to Dawn, the demonstrators have been protesting since last night, burnt tyres, and blocked the road for traffic, which has caused traffic problems.
The chairman of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) Aslam Pakhali said that over 100 shipping containers carrying mangoes and potatoes are worth an estimated Rs250 million were stuck in traffic since Monday evening.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asif Bughio, electricity in several areas of Lyari has been suspended since 4pm yesterday (Monday). He claimed that the police tried to negotiate with them but they attacked the law enforcers with stones.
Their protest has continued for more than 20 hours now.
According to media reports, in Karachi’s Gadap Town, the load-shedding time has gone up to 18 hours in a day. Similarly, Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, Surjani Town, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, and other areas are seeing power outages of 14 hours or more.
Following the incidents, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh contacted K-Electric Chief Executive Moonis Alvi. He noted that load-shedding has made the lives of people miserable.
“Due to persistent load-shedding, the security situation is deteriorating,” he told the KE official.
A day earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif warned the nation that they might face increased load-shedding in the coming month of July.
