KOHAT: Despite hundreds of complaints, Kohat jail’s inmates—including women, children, and the elderly—have endured 17 hours of electricity load shedding on almost daily basis, making their sufferings worse.

Talking to Dawn on Monday, Jail Superintendent Abdul Bari said the major electricity breakdowns occurred mostly on weekends besides ten hours on other days.

He regretted that the executive engineer and sub-divisional officer of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) did not respond to the phone calls, while a junior official made lame excuses about the power outages.

He said that the supply had been cut off at 5 am on Saturday morning which resumed at 12.30 am Sunday in the night. The electricity was released for only three hours after 19 hours of loadshedding, he claimed. Again on last Sunday, it was suspended at 9.35 am and could not be restored till the filing of this report.

The jail superintendent said that the prisoners had to face severe hardships due to unannounced power outages in very hot summers which still caused sweating in the congested barracks, causing unrest among them.

URS ENDS: The 77th Urs of Ghamkol Sharif culminated with final prayers offered by Pir of Ghamkol Sharif Pir Habibullah Shah.

KP Governor Faisal Kareem Kundi also participated in the final dua, which was attended by thousands of pilgrims.

In light of KP government’s directive, the district administration had made comprehensive security and other arrangements in connection with the Urs.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2024