They blocked the Karakoram Highway and suspended traffic between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan for hours.

“The company executing this mega energy project is delaying our wages, which is affecting our children’s education and even our ability to afford two meals a day,” Mohammad Behroom, one of the protesters, told Dawn News.

The participants marched along the Karakoram Highway and later assembled in the Chuchang area of Dasu, Upper Kohistan where they raised slogans, pushing forward their demands.

They threatened to boycott their work if their demands were not met.

“The government recently issued a notification fixing the monthly wage for 26 working days at Rs40,000, but we are still not receiving this benefit,” another protester, Mohammad Javed told Dawn News.

“We have repeatedly raised the issue with the company’s management, and also held talks with them to settle outstanding issues but to no avail. Even shopkeepers have stopped giving us essential goods on credit,” he said.

The labourers demanded that the company to follow the national labour laws and implement the wage notification issued by the labour department.

“The deputy commissioner should compel the company to fix wages and ensure all benefits guaranteed under the labour policy,” one of the protest leaders told the newspaper.