ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Towns and cities across Pakistan plunged into darkness early Sunday when an apparent militant attack on a transmission line short-circuited the national electricity grid, presenting a fresh indictment of the government’s faltering efforts to solve the country’s chronic power crisis.
Emergency efforts to end the blackout, widely described as Pakistan’s worst ever, resulted in a partial restoration of power in the capital, Islamabad, and the most populous city, Karachi, by Sunday evening. Even so, 80 percent of the country remained without power including the provincial capitals of Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, an official said.
–
Although that protest ended recently, Mr. Sharif’s administration still appears beleaguered, while the emergence of an increasingly assertive military led by Gen. Raheel Sharif (who is not related to the prime minister) has further eroded his authority.
Declan Walsh contributed reporting from London.
