ISLAMABAD: The Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on Saturday asked the government to resolve the issue of power outages on priority as it has made life difficult for the masses and has damaged the business activities. Violent protests continue in many cities as power outages have hit alarming level disrupting daily life and creating problems in preparations of Sehr and Iftar, said Atif Ikram Sheikh, Chairman FPCCI Regional Committee on Industries. He said load shedding during severe heatwave has not only taken tool on masses but also plagued economy and discouraged local and foreign investment as protests have sent a very negative signal. Atif Ikram Sheikh said that the issue of load shedding should be resolved otherwise more protests would erupt while situation in Karachi is worth mentioning where people have to live without electricity for 10 to 12 hours every day. The government should adopt urgent measures to reduce load shedding during the holy month of Ramazan while K-Electric and other power companies should be asked for reasons behind power outages, which has increased the sufferings of people in this sizzling weather. He said that K-Electric has not only failed to upgrade its system but has done a little to include additional electricity in its system which must be probed and those responsible should be brought to the book. The claims of the KE management that there would be no load shedding during Iftar and Sehr has proved to be another false mantra, he added. Keeping dozens of power plants closed during such a weather amounts to punish masses for a crime they never committed, the business leader observed. He said people in rural areas are facing up to 20 hours of load shedding which is height of injustice.