Karachi [Pakistan], July 13 : A protest over a prolonged power outage in Karachi's Punjab Colony turned into a city-wide traffic nightmare on Saturday, exposing yet again the chronic governance failure and energy mismanagement under the Pakistani state, Dawn reported.
Residents of a 10-storey residential building blocked a major artery near Punjab Chowrangi to protest more than 24 hours of uninterrupted electricity suspension. The building's 80 flats had reportedly been without power since 11 am on Friday. Despite repeated complaints, K-Electric, the city's sole power distributor, allegedly failed to respond, pushing desperate residents to the streets.
The sit-in brought life to a standstill on Defence Road and surrounding areas, with traffic clogging for hours. Long queues of goods trailers and tankers, critical to Karachi Port operations, were seen stalled from Qayyumabad to the KPT Flyover. Thousands of commuters were left stranded as major junctions such as Boat Basin, Gizri, and Hino Chowrangi became gridlocked, Dawn reported.
This power crisis, which triggered the protest, reportedly began after K-Electric launched an aggressive anti-theft operation in the adjacent P&T Colony. As per Dawn News, residents claim that the entire building lost power following confrontations during the operation, in which KE staff allegedly cut off power without due process, indiscriminately affecting legal and illegal connections alike.
K-Electric dismissed the protests as the actions of "miscreants" trying to restore illegal connections. Speaking to Dawn, the KE spokesperson said that their teams were attacked while attempting to stop a large-scale power theft operation allegedly conducted under the cover of a cable TV network. However, no proof was provided that all affected residents were involved in theft.
While KE claimed to have restored power to parts of the area following assurances from local leaders and law enforcement, the bigger issue remains Pakistan's inability to provide stable and equitable electricity access to its citizens.The state's persistent failure to upgrade infrastructure and ensure transparency in power distribution leaves millions vulnerable, Dawn reported.
This incident is not an isolated failure; it is symptomatic of a broader collapse of governance, where Pakistan's institutions continue to punish ordinary citizens for the state's systemic dysfunction.