Janda Khel Vs. Landi Kotal

Imagine you were living in a part of Afghanistan close to the Pakistan border and the Khyber Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (what a truly awful name). Imagine that you were trying your hardest to avoid being blown up by US bombs and being shot at by Pakistani soldiers. And imagine that your electricity supply was erratic and insufficient to meet local demand. What would you do? Well, this is the situation that the residents of Janda Khel were faced with, and they decided to take matters into their own hands. The Janda Khelians disrupted the electricity supply to Landi Kotal by damaging a major transmission line. Problem is, this also disrupts the electricity supply to Janda Khel, because the transmission lines run through Landi Kotal. So Janda Khel has disrupted its own power supply as well. Of course, Landi Kotal residents in turn are demanding that TESCO (Tribal Electricity Supply Company - did you know such a thing existed?) turn their power back on and deny Janda Khel any power at all. Such love, huh?

In Karachi, people sometimes joke that Pathans operate on their own unique and inscrutable brand of logic. This behavior is sometimes (ok, often) the butt of jokes. But really, if you think about it, the people of Janda Khel has responded quite rationally. Since they're not getting electricity anyway, they may as well make their point by engaging in protest that makes the haves realize what it's like to be the have-nots.

And what of the fact that Janda Khel is technically in Afghanistan? Well, I say that they've been through enough and surely we can give them a little juice. It's not as if that border is very meaningful anyway. The Pakistan-Afghanistan border is non-porous only in the fantasies of George W. Bush.

Landi Kotal, by the way, is the highest point on the Khyber Pass and is a tourist destination. These photos give you a sense of the ruggedness of the region.