Hundreds of laborers and others, agonized by prolonged electricity cuts, burnt several vehicles, motorcycles and public buildings in Multan Monday. More than a dozen persons were injured in the disturbances. The protesters also torched to the building of a bank and offices of the power utility, Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA). Police controlled the violence and dispersed the angry mob after firing shots in the air, baton-charging and tear-gassing. For hours, hundreds of agitators protested in streets. More than 2000 protesters were wielding batons. They hurled stones on the pubic and private property besides burning the furniture. Multan's textile industry association organized the protest after it had set the deadline of Sunday (April 13) for the power utility to cut down electricity outages. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, who hails from Multan, appealed to the people to remain calm, and show patience and restraint since violence would not help overcome the electricity crisis. He said that although the present government has inherited electricity and energy shortages and wheat crises, it is striving to resolve the problems on war footing. Gilani said that he has directed the Minister for Water and Power to personally visit different cities and regions to asses the needs and take immediate measures to help redress the difficulties of the people. In the meantime, Inspector General of Police Punjab Azhar Nadeem said strict action would be taken against those involved in violence in Multan. He said senior police officers were present along with heavy police contingent and many miscreants were arrested. Mirza Muhammad Ali, the regional police chief, said 10 staffers for the power company were injured before armed colleagues drove the protesters back. He said three protesters were also hurt. Ali said they made almost 40 arrests. Some protesters carried a banner inscribed “Constant load-shedding is our financial murder.” “We are facing up to 20 hours load-shedding (daily), and about 500,000 loom workers and their families are facing starvation if the businesses are shut down,” said Khalid Sandhu, a leader of the All Pakistan Power Looms Association. Pakistan is suffering growing power outages due to soaring demand and a lack of investment in generation capacity, crippling businesses and leaving ordinary citizens without even fans as the country heads toward the heat of summer. A new government led by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, a Multan native, has pledged to address the shortfall. It has blamed the previous administration under President Pervez Musharraf for the neglect. It has also warned that the outages will get worse before any new generating plants can come on line. __
