Dispute over electricity Prices

ARMED Pakistani police confined 35 British expatriates to their homes at a power plant near Karachi yesterday in a dispute over the price of electricity generated there, writes Kamal Siddiqi in Karachi.

The police warned they would arrest anyone trying to leave the compound at the Hubco power station, 20 miles west of the city, but refused to allow in food or water.

The 25 British engineers and 10 family members, including several children, were isolated in temperatures of nearly 45C at the plant, which is part-owned by National Power, in an area of blistering desert.

"It is despicable," said a spokesman for the British High Commission. "We are incredibly concerned, particularly about the lack of supplies, but we are doing everything we can to sort it out."

The police declined to explain, saying only that their actions had been ordered at the "very highest level" - an apparent reference to Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister.

Hakim Baloch, the interior minister of Baluchistan province, in which the plant lies, denied that the engineers were being held hostage.

The government is in dispute with Hubco over the price it charges the state for electricity. It claims Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister, allowed the company to overcharge in return for kickbacks. Bhutto has denied the claim.

Last week Hubco, which was set up in 1992, was ordered by a court to cut its prices by more than half, prompting a sharp fall in its value on the stock exchange. In a separate ruling, the company was forbidden to send profits out of Pakistan. Sunday Times - 24/05/98