Another incident of PTI lawmakers taking direct action against electricity supply management occurred on Saturday night, when an MNA forcefully restored power at a South Waziristan grid station, exacerbating tensions between the provincial and federal governments.
The KP Chief Minister, Ali Amin Gandapur, has sanctioned such actions to address prolonged loadshedding exceeding 12 hours in various areas.
In Pakistan, except for K-Electric, all power distribution is under federal authority, with companies like Tribal Areas Electricity Supply Company (TESCO) covering tribal regions such as North and South Waziristan, and Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) serving the rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
Chief Minister Gandapur recently issued a stern warning to the federal government led by Shehbaz Sharif, emphasizing that the situation could escalate if loadshedding durations are not reduced to a maximum of 12 hours in KP. He himself intervened during Eid ul Adha to restore electricity in affected areas.
As temperatures soar due to climate change, frequent and prolonged power outages have triggered consecutive protests across the country.
In this context, MNA Zubair Khan Wazir followed suit with his party colleagues by storming the Jandola grid station and implementing his own 12-hour on, 12-hour off loadshedding schedule for areas like FR Jandola and Upper Waziristan.
Wazir announced that his team would oversee the grid station operations to manage the power supply as per his declared schedule, a move indicative of the escalating tensions and direct interventions by PTI lawmakers in the electricity supply management domain.
