Pakistan: Residents of Battagram, KP block Karakoram Highway amid crackdown on power theft

Islamabad [Pakistan], September 17 : Amid protests raging across the country over inflated electricity bills, the residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Battagram on Saturday blocked a stretch of the Karakoram Highway near the Khatm-i-Nabuwat Chowk even as authorities cracked down on power theft, Dawn reported. 
According to the report, the protesting residents vented their ire not only over illegal electricity connections (kundas) but the defaulters as well. 
Locals in Battagram on Saturday took to the streets in several areas of the region, especially Ajmera and Chappargram, to protest against the local administration. 
Last week, the caretaker government announced plans to launch a crackdown on power theft.
According to the federal ministers, rampant electricity theft has resulted in a combined loss to the tune of hundreds of billions of rupees and has also led to rising power tariffs for citizens, Dawn reported.  
The interim government announced the crackdown in the face of violent civilian protests and demonstrations over inflated electricity bills.
The crackdown on pilferers is underway presently in several areas of Pakistan, according to the report. 
Khalid Khan Ajmera, affiliated with the Jamaat-i-Islami, said electricity connections of over 20,000 people in the area had been cut during the crackdown, including those of consumers who were paying their bills on time. 
Addressing a gathering of protesters, Chappargram Village Council chairman Shaukat Hayat claimed that officials had disconnected electricity to the entire union council without keeping in view the “ground realities”, Dawn reported. 
“The electricity supply to even those consumers, who had been paying their bills regularly and have legal connections, has been suspended,” he said.
The residents initially staged a demonstration in the main bazaar of Battagram but later moved to the Khatm-i-Nabuwat Chowk, blocking a part of the Karakoram Highway, according to Dawn. 
Further, the report stated that the protestors shouted slogans against the "thuggery" of Battagram Deputy Commissioner (DC) Tanveerur Rehman and the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda).
They also called for the DC's transfer saying that his incompetence was driving the district towards anarchy. 
Hayat stated further that the Battagram DC attempted to "impose his biased decisions on the poor while the influentials in the district remain untouched".
The DC should be replaced by a “wiser person capable of running the affairs of the district smoothly”, Hayat demanded, according to Dawn. 
He also warned that if the demands were not fulfilled, they would uproot pylons of the Allai Khwar Hydropower Project transmission line, according to the report.
Advocate Iqbal Khan, a local resident, accused Wapda officials of violating the privacy of residents during the crackdown in the Ajmera village, reported Dawn. 
“The DC sent the AC (assistant commissioner) and Wapda officials to the village for action against illegal connections and defaulters. The team entered the houses against Pakhtun customs and norms, violating the dignity of women and homes,” he alleged, according to the report. 
Earlier this week, a report in ARY News claimed Pakistan's caretaker PM, himself, has unpaid electricity bills worth PKR 9,819.
According to the Pakistani media outlet, various ministries, divisions, and government departments are grappling with staggering power bills, with several ministries having unpaid bills amounting to millions.
Further, according to ARY News, Pakistan’s Foreign Office has not paid PKR 143.281 million worth of electricity bills while various ministries owe over Rs. 98.367 million. 
The Cabinet Division has unpaid bills exceeding Rs. 49.720 million and the Finance Division and other departments have outstanding bills of over Rs. 49.972 million, the report claimed.