The prevailing severe flour crisis, hours long power and gas load shedding and upward trend in the prices of essential commodities are triggering protest in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of the country.
Political parties including those participating in the elections of February 18 and those boycotting it are criticising the government to lure the votes of the people. The NWFP province is hit by severe energy crises and both domestic and commercial consumers of the utility are facing wrath of load shedding.
The massive power load shedding in industrial estates and total suspension of power supply to the steel factories in the province had forced the closed down of the industrial units threatening the employment of thousands of industrial workers. The price of flour has registered unprecedented increase and 20-kilogram bag of the commodity is being sold at Rs 500.
Although the provincial government in collaboration with flour millers had established 30 Fair Price Shops in the provincial metropolis selling a bag of 20-kilogram flour at Rs 310, but they are insufficient to provide commodity to a population of more than 3 million.
Long queues of the people seeking the purchase of a single bag have become a routine matter in the flour markets of the city. In some parts of the city the bakers had reportedly increased the price of roti (bread) by one rupee.
The nationalist Awami National Party (ANP) has already arranged a province-wide against power and gas load shedding and flour crisis in the province while JUI-F, a religious political party staged protest rallies over the matter on Friday.
The protest rally of JUI-F was taken out from Madni Mosque, Namak Mandi, a famous emerged venue for anti-US rallies in the city after September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in New York and Washington and US attacks on Afghanistan to oust then Taliban government.
The provincial secretary information JUI-F and candidate from NA-1, Peshawar City, Abdul Jalil Jan and former provincial ministers Asif Iqbal and Maulana Amanullah Haqqani led the protest rally carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against flour crisis in the province.
The JUI leaders criticised the leadership of ANP, saying that majority of them are the owners of the flourmills in the province. They charged them for creating artificial flour crisis in the province to get the sympathies of voters in the coming elections. However, they said that the people of the province will neither vote for those responsible for the ppresent shortage of flour and those seeking US backing for coming into power in the country.
The district chapter of former cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan also staged a hunger protest camp in front of Peshawar Press Club (PPC) against the spiral of sky rocketing price-hike, flour crisis and massive load shedding of natural gas and electricity in the province.
They said that the load shedding of both utilities were hitting the common man and bringing industrial and commercial activities across the country to halt. They demanded forthwith resolution of the flour and energy crises.
A group of union council Nazimeen from the City District Peshawar also staged a protest camp and asked both Caretaker Chief Minister Engineer Shams-ul-Mulk, City District Nazim Haji Ghulam Ali to resign after admitting failure to control the flour, gas and electricity crises.
The City District Nazim visited the protest camp and assured distribution of flour at union council in the district from Friday. He said that each Nazim of the district would get a specific flour quota for distribution amongst the people of their union council. The Nazims had threatened moving of no confidence in case the District Nazim failed in resolution of the crisis by January 16.
Women wing of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) NWFP has also staged a protest demo against the massive power and gas load shedding and flour crisis in the country. They had demanded immediate resolution to the problems.
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