Peshawar: A Pakistani man committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a Kalashnikov assault rifle to protest against continual power cuts, his family said today.

Laiq Sher, 18, killed himself on Saturday after his relatives stopped him from blocking a road to show his anger at blackouts in his village near the northwestern city of Peshawar. His uncle told reporters that he heard Sher saying that he had no influence over the government but that he could control his own destiny. The young man then locked himself in his room and shot himself, he said.
Residents said that Sher was furious over persistent power cuts in his village, which received just two hours of low-voltage electricity a day.

Police said that they had no immediate information about the incident.

Rioters took to the streets in Karachi and Lahore last week as the country was hit by power shortages in the middle of a searing heatwave. The government has promised to take urgent steps to improve the situation.