South Asia News
Two killed during protest over power shortages in Pakistan
Jul 4, 2011, 9:47 GMT
Islamabad - At least two people were killed and seven injured Monday when police fired on a demonstration against power outages in Pakistan's eastern province of Punjab, security officials and media reports said.
The incident occurred in Mianwali, about 270 kilometers west of provincial capital Lahore, where two nuclear power plants are located.
Residents were protesting long hours of power shortages and demanding that electricity produced at the nuclear plants be directly provided to the city instead of feeding into the national grid.
'The police fired when the people starting moving towards the nuclear plants,' Dunya television reported.
An official at the city's main police control room confirmed the incident saying two protesters were killed and seven injured when police fired at them in 'self-defence.'
Pakistan is facing acute power crisis and people have repeatedly taken to the streets as temperatures rise steadily during the summer.
In rural areas, daily power outages last for as long as 16 hours.
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