Towns and cities across Pakistan plunged into darkness on 25th January when what officials said was an attack by militants on a transmission line short-circuited the national electricity grid, presenting a new indictment of the government’s faltering efforts to solve the country’s chronic power crisis. The minister for water and power, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, blamed separatist rebels in the western province of Baluchistan who, he said, had blown up a critical transmission line. But experts said the attack only highlighted the growing vulnerability of Pakistan’s power grid, which has come under severe strain since the electricity crisis began in earnest about seven years ago. Rebels in Baluchistan, a vast but sparsely populated province, have been fighting for independence for almost a decade. The military has quelled the uprising with harsh tactics, including the abduction and torture of hundreds of suspected separatists, and there is little open fighting. Instead, the rebels mostly carry out guerrilla attacks on government installations such as rail lines, gas pipelines and electrical towers.
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