MANSEHRA: Traders in Oghi on Tuesday urged the Hazara Electric Supply Company (Hesco) officials to end the daylong power outages carried out under the pretext of maintenance and trimming tree branches along the transmission lines.

“We have long been facing daylong power outages on alternative days, severely affecting our business activities,” Ijaz Ahmad, a trade leader, told a press conference.

Accompanied by a group of traders, he said that domestic and commercial consumers were already burdened by routine loadshedding, and the additional outages had completely disrupted their livelihoods.

“Hesco suspends electricity for an entire day every other day, citing technical faults on transmission lines and grid stations. We will no longer tolerate such excuses,” Mr Ahmad said.

Say blackouts carried out under ‘pretext of maintenance’ hit their businesses hard

He added that traders were already confronting the impact of inflation, and the continuous suspension of electricity had pushed their businesses to the brink of collapse. “The Oghi grid station, which supplies electricity to the city and its surrounding areas, frequently develops faults, leading to prolonged outages that disrupt daily life,” he said.

Mr Ahmad mentioned that traders had previously met with senior Hesco officials to inform them of the hardships caused by the outages, but to no avail.

He stressed the need for the central traders’ body in Oghi to devise a strategy to counter these extended outages and consider observing a shutter-down strike in protest. “The business community is fed up with these power outages and is ready to observe a complete shutter-down strike and take to the streets to voice its grievances,” Mr Ahmad warned.

PROTEST CALLED OFF: Islami Jamiat Talaba, the student wing of Jamaat-i-Islami, on Tuesday called off its planned protest rally against the display of allegedly obscene paintings at an exhibition after the vice-chancellor of Hazara University took notice of the issue and ordered the event to be closed.

“We have withdrawn our protest call after the VC ended the exhibition, where obscene paintings were displayed, and assured us that such acts of immorality would not happen in the future,” Ilyas Jabbar, IJT nazim, told a press conference.

Flanked by other office-bearers, he said that the protest rally was initially scheduled to be held on Wednesday (today) to demand the immediate closure of the exhibition and punitive action against those responsible for it.

“We planned to call for an end to the exhibition organised by the department of arts and design of Hazara University and for punitive action against those responsible for displaying such immoral paintings. However, the organisers have also tendered an unconditional apology for their unjustified action,” Mr Jabbar said.

He said that the student wing was not against promoting arts or creative expression but opposed vulgarity in any form.

“Some paintings displayed here are unacceptable in our Islamic society, particularly in a co-educational institution,” he added.

Mr Jabbar said upon learning about their concerns about the exhibition, the vice-chancellor met with them and assured them that no such events breaching Islamic cultural and traditional values would be held at Hazara University in future.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2024