Islamabad, July 26: Away from the killing fields between army and Taliban, violent riots triggered by chronic power cuts engulf Pakistan, underscoring government weakness and playing into the hands of extremists.
Burning tyres and throwing stones, mobs rampage daily in financial capital Karachi, where the first monsoons dumped 8.6 centimetres (3.4 inches) of rain, killed 30 people and brought power transmission to a virtual collapse.
Riots have been even worse in Punjab, the country’s most populous province. Mobsters held up a train in the volatile town of Jhang, ordered passengers onto the platform and set three coaches on fire in their fury.
“At least 25 of our public dealing offices have been attacked, our employees have been beaten and many vehicles burnt,” said Naveed Ismail, head of the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC).
“Such attacks on our facilities delay restoration work as it makes staff afraid to go to affected areas for repairs,” Ismail said.
Pakistan faces a catastrophic energy crisis, able only to produce 80 percent of the electricity it needs, suffocating industry, making life unbearable in extreme winter and summer, and causing widespread civil disturbance.
It’s a topic of debate from the richest suburbs to the most miserable slums. Even US envoy Richard Holbrooke peppered praise for action against the Taliban with the need to address the crippling cuts.
“The situation is better than what is was four months ago, except the electricity (shortages), and I hope I can make an announcement on that when I come back,” he told Western reporters in Islamabad on Thursday.
Production shortfall has been blamed on government incapacity, corruption, short sightedness, debts, a creaking distribution system, lack of money to invest in renewable energy and growing demand making it worse every year.
“I’m a college student, I’ve never scuffled with anyone in my life but I can’t stop myself,” said a young man calling himself Mohammad Kaleem, angrily pelting stones at police in Karachi’s southern Ranchhore Lines.
“Anyone facing no power and water supplies non-stop for three days would be angry and lose patience,” he said.
According to a recent Gallup Pakistan poll, more than half the population of 167 million, 53 percent, go without power for more than eight hours a day and a massive 83 percent say they are affected by rolling blackouts and the heat.
Another 42 percent are forced to terminate work during the day because of the blackouts and only 11 percent can afford generators or standby batteries.
The government has taken out advertisements appealing for public restraint. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ordered the government to “work out immediate measures to redress the situation” but admitted it was out of his hands.
“We are trying to improve the situation but it is not a commodity that I can buy and give to the people,” Gilani said.
The outages hammer an already flailing economy, which slashed manufacturing by eight percent last fiscal year ending June 30.
“We estimate that the power problem in Pakistan affected exports to the tune of one billion dollars last fiscal year,” Mohammad Sohail, an analyst who heads Topline Securities, told AFP.
“It’s so disappointing, I see a bleak future for our industrial sector,” said textile tycoon Zubair Motiwala.
“Electricity shortages prevented us from meeting orders on time for billions of dollars from Western countries,” Motiwala said.
Political commentator and university lecturer Tauseef Ahmed Khan warned that power cuts could get out of hand and strengthen the Taliban, urging the state to divert part of the massive defence budget immediately to boost power.
“It’s creating frustration among the people and could create anarchy. If frustration in Pakistan’s relatively peaceful areas is allowed to grow it will ultimately benefit Taliban militants and other forces of anarchy,” he said.
In Karachi, police recorded more than 2,500 cases of rioting last year and thousands more were reported across the country.
“It could be difficult for our ill-equipped police to handle if people get more frustrated,” admitted one police official on condition of anonymity.
–Agencies