PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa held demonstrations in different parts of the province on Friday against `unbearable` rise in electricity bills and `controversial` agreements with the Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

The rallies were arranged on the call of JI central chief Hafiz Naeemur Rahman.

In the provincial capital, the JI activists demonstrated outside the headquarters of Peshawar Electric Supply Company led by district president Bahrullah Khan Advocate.

The protesters were holding banners and placards inscribed with anti-government slogans and seeking revision of agreements with IPPs and reducing theelectricity prices.

The JI activists also chanted slogans against the government.

Addressing the gathering, Bahrullah Khan came down hard on the successive governments since 1994 for making `shameful` agreements with IPPs, which forced the poor consumers to purchase expensive electricity.

He accused the governments, including those led by Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, of continuing the exploitative contracts to benefit the IPP owners at the cost of people`s misery, who were subjected to overpayment amounting to Rs2.1 trillion.

Bahrullah also criticised the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for `record corruption`. He alleged Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and his brother had become synonymous with corruption in transfer and posting cases.

In Dera Ismail Khan, Jamaat workers staged a protest in front of the press club against soaring electricity prices.

A large number of JI workers andlocal leaders participated in the demonstration, holding placards and banners denouncing expensive electricity and the alleged exploitation by IPPs.

The protest was led by JI district emir Manzar Masood Khattak, deputy emir for southern districts Maulana Salimullah Arshad and others.

The speakers said while the government claimed to have renegotiated contracts with 28 IPPs, saving the treasury Rs1.40 trillion, consumers had yet to see any relief in electricity costs.

They alleged IPPs received Rs2.5 to Rs3 trillion annually in capacity charges without actually generating electricity.

In Lakki Marwat, Jamaat workers demonstrated in Serai Naurang town on Friday against rising tariffs and excessive electric outages.

Led by JI south secretary general Mohammad Zahoor Khattak, Lakki emir Mufti Irfanullah and others, a pro-cession appeared trom the Qilla Ground and converged at Khatm-iNabuwwat Chowk.The speakers said high electricity prices and taxation had broken the back of people.

They said a recent proposal to the prime minister regarding increase in salaries of parliamentarians was tantamount to rubbing salt on the wounds of inflation-hit people.

In Karak, the Jamaat activists also agitated in front of the press club against soaring electricity prices.

In Lower Dir, Jamaat`s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa North chief Inayatullah Khan, while addressing a protest rally in Timergara, said contracts with IPPs were tantamount to looting national wealth.

Earlier, hundreds of JI workers led by Inayatullah took out a procession from Ahyaul Uloom and gathered at the Gorgorai Chowk. They were chanting slogans against the government and Pesco authorities.