Immersed in darkness, Karachi residents protest across the city

Karachi: Amid rising temperatures and prolonged power outages in different areas of Karachi, residents protested across the city. The latest demonstrations blocked major roads, disrupting traffic flow and daily life.

The people were forced to come out on the streets on Friday last week, raising their demands for an uninterrupted supply of electricity and gas, despite paying their bills.

During the protest, a resident, Shahjahan stated, “The electricity had been cut since Wednesday 4 pm, and still there is no sign of electricity. All of us have paid the bills, and now we are sitting in darkness, reeling under the burden of prolonged power cuts and load-shedding. But there is no one to hear our concerns. There are just 2 people at my house, my son is the only earning member, and we have a bill of (Pakistani currency) PKR 30 thousand. Now how will the only earning member of my family pay? We have no choice left and when we raise our complaints then no one is there to take action.”

It has been more than 36 hours of continuous power cuts and the sweltering heat has pushed electricity demand, sparking a series of protests across the city.

Another female senior citizen stated, “For the last three days there has been no electricity, and there no response from the administration. I don’t know in which direction the nation is headed, no electricity, no gas and no water. What option do we have now? We are not rich at all, most of us gathered here are daily wage labourers. What sort of justice is it.”

A resident claimed that the electricity provider for the metropolis cut off power to the area because several households in the neighbourhood failed to pay their monthly power tariff bills.

Yawar Abbas, a middle-aged local protestor stated, “From last 36 hours we are here. Yesterday the police came here and lathi charged when we were raising our demands. Then they asked us to show the faulty bills, we showed the copies of these bills to every official but no one heard us. And later they assured us that they would start the electricity again but for more than 24 hours the issue continued. This is not a rich locality, our children and old people in our homes need regular electricity. When they wanted to take our votes they begged us for votes, but now there is no one to stand with us now in the time of need.”

Despite several rounds of negotiations between protesters and the police, no resolution has been reached.

Another protestor Shumaila said, “Every one of us here is tortured and betrayed. Go and check the people who have patients in their houses, they are suffering. My mother-in-law is a patient and we had to rush her to the hospital as we did not have any electricity for her medical equipment. There is no electricity and despite that, the price of electricity is rising.”

The prolonged power outages have disrupted daily life and prompted residents to take to the streets in protest, demanding swift action from the authorities to address the issue.

Another protestor stated that her kids will soon be appearing in examinations and they have no way to study without electricity. “How will our kids study in this scorching heat without any electricity? Our husbands, who are daily wage labourers go on their jobs and return home hoping to rest but there is no electricity. What will we do in this case.” (ANI)

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