Karachi, In a forceful press conference today, Khurrum Sher Zaman, a senior member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and former parliamentary leader, sharply criticized the handling of Karachi’s severe load shedding and escalating heatwave issues. He also condemned the recent attack on PTI Central Information Secretary, Rauf Hasan, in Islamabad, calling for immediate justice.

According to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Mr. Sher Zaman expressed grave concerns about the assault on Rauf Hasan and the broader implications it has for political safety in Pakistan. He insisted on a thorough investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice. Turning to local issues, he focused on the extensive electricity outages affecting Karachi, especially during the current heatwave, criticizing the Sindh government’s response as insufficient and questioning the actions taken against K-Electric, the city’s sole electricity provider.

Mr. Sher Zaman detailed the hardships faced by Karachi’s residents, who endure unannounced power cuts lasting from three to 18 hours daily despite full payment of their electricity bills. He accused the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of failing to fulfill its promises for energy relief and called out the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) for not adequately protecting consumers from overbilling and excessive load shedding.

The PTI leader highlighted the previous PTI government’s efforts under Imran Khan, which included a significant subsidy to Karachi’s electricity consumers and a plan to boost the city’s power supply by nearly 70% by the summer of 2023. He lamented the current administration’s failure to build on these initiatives, particularly in curbing electricity theft and increasing power supply.

Concluding his remarks, Mr. Sher Zaman announced that the PTI Lawyers Forum would be filing a petition against K-Electric to address the load shedding crisis and called for the cancellation of its license to end its monopoly in the city. He urged the Supreme Court to take suo moto action to rectify the situation and demanded that the Sindh Government invest heavily in the K-IV water project to alleviate both power and water shortages in Karachi.