Black-out in Pakistan

Pakistan suffered a huge power cut following a breakdown in its national grid, leaving millions of people without electricity. Power was out in all the country's major centres, including the biggest city Karachi, the capital Islamabad, as well as Lahore and Peshawar. Power minister Khurrum Dastagir said the grid failure followed a "frequency variation" in southern Pakistan. He insisted this was "not a major crisis" and power would be back soon. Pakistan often suffers from power cuts, which are blamed on mismanagement and a lack of investment in infrastructure. He also told that parts of the electricity were turned off overnight because the demand for energy during winter was less than in summer, when much of the country experiences very high temperatures and people use air conditioning and fans. Earlier this month the government ordered all malls and markets to shut by 20:30 and restaurants by 22:00 under a new energy saving plan.