In less than a month of ending protest, people across Pakistan occupied Gilgit Baltistan (POGB) have again resorted to the streets in protest. This time regarding one of their demands around load shedding in the region. The protestors are enraged because of not only load shedding but also the nature of it being unannounced.
On Thursday February 15, people in Gahkuch city of Ghizer district blocked the Gilgit-Shandur highway in protest and thwarted the movement of traffic. Meanwhile, the most harrowing image comes from Gilgit, where children also joined the protestors and blocked the way to the occupying Chief Minister’s office.
For a long time POGB is grappling with the challenges of load shedding. The problem faced by people in POGB worsens in winter season. At the moment, there is about 20 hours of load shedding, which could be loosely referred to as the complete absence of electricity. Pakistan which controls and exploits the hydroelectric power generation capacity of the region, keeps people downtrodden.
And it is not that the entire region of Pakistan is facing the problem, people from POGB and POJK are being treated in the most inhumane way because Pakistan knows that the land is under its illegal occupation and that it is entitled to exploit its resources without giving the due attention to the people under its occupation.