ATTOCK, Aug 18: Power riots in Attock left one dead and scores, including four policemen, injured besides disrupting normal life on Wednesday. Thousands of commuters also remained stranded on G.T. Road and the motorway.

Protest demonstrations also took place in Wah Cantonment, Taxila and Chakwal against prolonged power breakdowns.

In Attock, about 25-km portion of the G.T. Road from Haji Shah to Hattian gave the look of a battlefield with vehicular traffic between Punjab and Khyber Paktunkhawa remaining blocked throughout the day.

The protest took an ugly turn when a VIP motorcade coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tried to cross the blockade at Haji Shah. An exchange of fire took place between the policemen of the VIP motorcade and the protesters.

As a result, four persons, including a policeman, were seriously injured and taken to District Headquarters Hospital, where one of them died. The deceased was identified as Mohammad Akhtar, a resident of Haji Shah. Sources in the hospital said a total of 13 injured were brought to the hospital and the condition of one of them was still precarious.

Thousands of people from almost 50 villages, including Hazro, Kamra, Vero, Hattian, Qutba of Chachh area, gathered on the highway near Hattian Chowk at about 7am. The angry protesters holding sticks and iron rods blocked the road and chanted slogans against the prolonged power cuts.

The enraged protesters also burnt the Iesco subdivision offices at Hattian and Shadi Khan, turning their entire record into ashes.

They also attacked the entry checkpost at Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) near Qutba Chowk and damaged CCTVs and other security equipment. Moving vehicles and fencing on the G.T. Road were also damaged.

Similar protests at others points on G.T. Road from Hattain to Haji Shah Chowk caused closure of all markets and shops.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people of Chacch village blocked the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway at Hazro Interchange.

Police sources said that about 45 protesters were arrested from different areas and cases registered against them.

In Taxila, angry mob took to the street and blocked the Taxila-Hattar road in Taxila and Rawalpindi-Peshawar road near New City at Wah Cantonment for over two hours.

Residents of the town and businessmen gathered on Taxila-Hattar road and burned tyres and placed heavy stones on the road.

Talking to newsmen, Taxila Traders Association Chairman Sheikh Ziauddin said the 19-hour-long loadshedding had made their lives miserable in the holy month. He said the massive power breakdowns had also crippled civic and commercial life.

The people of Kalar Kahar also protested against the power cuts during Iftar, Sehri and Taravih and blocked the Chakwal-Sargodha road for two hours.

They gave an ultimatum of two days to Iesco to stop the unannounced loadshedding otherwise they would surround its grid station. Police had to intervene to disperse the protesters.

Meanwhile, the Iesco chief engineer while explaining the unannounced loadshedding in Hazro tehsil and other Chacch areas said recent floods had damaged some of the power stations there.

In a press release, he said loadshedding would be reduced gradually subject to repair of the damaged grid stations.