The law and order situation in the city remained tense for the second consecutive day on Monday, as the protestors remained charged over long hours of unscheduled outages.
The unscheduled load shedding gave a chance to PML-N supported traders to come hard on the federal government and blaming it for failing to control load shedding. They also gave an ultimatum for controlling outages. The PML-N president had already asked his workers to favour the protestors against load shedding.
The city witnessed long hours of power cuts and electricity in every part of the city was closed for three to four hours consecutively. A large number of people came on the roads, blocked the traffic and chanted slogans against the government. A large number of protestors in Band Road, Bhatti Chowk, Bagrian Chowk, Regal Chowk, Township, Green Town and other areas burnt tyres on the roads and chanted slogans against the government.
The traders of the city also came on the roads protesting and gave an ultimatum to the government to end unscheduled load shedding within three days or get ready for a “showdown”. In a protest, the traders and businessmen of Hall Road and The Mall gathered at Regal Chowk and chanted slogans against the government for failing to provide them electricity.
Anjuman Tajran Electronics Hall Road and Link Macleod Road General Secretary Amin Mazhar Butt said that the traders were not taking law in their hands but the government was forcing them to become violent. “The traders would observe an all-out strike and complete a shutter-down in the entire province if unscheduled load shedding continued,” he added.
A Hall Road trader, Humayon Ali, said his business had ruined due to load shedding. He said electronics business could not run without electricity. He said he opened his shop at 10am and till 4pm there was no electricity. The violent protestors in Band Road near Gulshan Ravi burnt tyres and blocked the main road. They attacked the vehicles and buses to show their anger against the government. They smashed the windows of cars on the road causing loss of millions of rupees. “We have been getting electricity for only four hours since yesterday,” said a protestor adding that children could not go to school because of long hours of outages. In another protest in Bagrian Chowk near Johar Town, the protestors blocked the road and burnt tyres, while in another protest in Green Town, the traders came on the road carrying banners against the government.
Meanwhile, the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) said the company was helpless in controlling unscheduled load shedding. The LESCO spokesman said that grid stations were closed from Islamabad by National Control Centre without telling time and duration.
PML-N LEADER BASHES GOVT: Following the suit of his elders, PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz Sharif came hard on the federal government for load shedding and said PML-N would give a “long march” call against load shedding if needed.
He was leading a rally from Lohari to Shah Aalam Chowk on Monday. All the central and provincial leaders of PML-N, including Rana Mashhud Ahmed Khan, Naseer Bhutta, Mian Marghoob Ahmed, Malik Riaz, Malik Afzal Khokhar, Imran Nazeer, Khawaja Salman Rafique, Bilal Yasin and others participated in the rally.
Addressing the gathering, Hamza said Zardari’s government, in the last three years, had only “remained busy in corruption”. He said the entire country was facing load shedding but the government was not moving even a single inch to address the issue. He said PML-N government could not stay away from people’s problem and would reply hard to the government on the issue. He said PML-N with help of the people would not allow the government to do corruption. He said that people of Lahore were already fighting dengue but the government, through long hours of outages, had helped the mosquito to play havoc with the lives of the people.
A large number of PML-N workers and traders participated in the rally. They were holding banners, posters and placards carrying anti-government slogans. The other participants also shared similar views and demanded of the government to end discrimination with Punjab. PML-N President Nawaz Sharif had instructed his party workers to aid and back people in load shedding protests. As a result, Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot and other cities of Punjab observed violent protests on Monday in which people robbed private property. The protestors burnt government offices and vehicles in the demonstrations.
