Pakistani temperatures, tempers, rise

KARACHI, May 30 (Reuters) Pakistani police fired teargas today to break up a protest over power cuts in the sweltering city of Karachi.

Pakistan's biggest city has seen frequent black-outs in recent days, infuriating residents trying to keep cool with fans and air-conditioners at the hottest time of the year.

Protesters blocked roads, set fire to tyres and tried to force shopkeepers to close their businesses in support of their campaign over interrupted power supplies.

''We fired a few shots of teargas only to disperse them. No arrests have been made,'' said city police official Latif Siddiqui.

May and June are the hottest months in Pakistan when dozens of people usually die from heat stroke, especially on the country's central plains. The rainy season begins in July, cooling things off before the autumn.

Karachi has for years been virtually immune to the frequent power cuts that plague northern Pakistan in the dry, hot months, when water levels drop in the rivers and reservoirs that drive hydro-electric power stations.

But not this year.

''There's been no electricity in my area for the last 24 hours,'' said one protester in his 20s, Fahim Ahmed.

''Today I'm using a stone,'' he said, referring to the rocks he and others had been throwing. ''But if the situation remains the same I might even use a bullet.'' An official at the city's power company blamed dilapidated generating and distributing equipment combined with heavy summer demand.

The Meteorological Department said Karachi saw a high of 37 Celsius yesterday. Mild compared with 50C (122F) in Nawabshah, a town in the interior of Sindh province.

REUTERS SY PM1827