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Pakistan’s economy has hit rock bottom, leaving its citizens struggling to meet basic needs such as food and energy.
After videos and images of Pakistanis going to extreme lengths for 1 kg of flour went viral on social media, the people of Pakistan have turned to Twitter to voice their woes as a nationwide power outage left almost all regions without electricity on Monday.
Orange Train Line #Lahore shutdown it's operation in a way due to #poweroutage.
shutdown the train in the middle, people are seen walking on the track on foot.#Pakistan #Blackout #Lahore pic.twitter.com/P6gGvdtgEA— Chaudhary Parvez (@ChaudharyParvez) January 23, 2023
Power failed across Pakistan on Monday (January 23) morning after a breakdown in its national grid. Power was out in all major cities including Karachi, Islamabad, Quetta, Lahore and Peshawar.
According to a statement from Pakistan’s Ministry of Energy, the national grid’s frequency fell at about 7:34 am, causing a “widespread disruption” in the energy system.
According to local officials, the outage began in southern Sindh Province due to an unexpected power fluctuation. According to Khurram Dastgir Khan, the energy minister, this caused a chain reaction of failures at power plants around the country.
The people who are awaking with the battery percentage of only 10% #poweroutage pic.twitter.com/YyyZeCOFPT
— Ehtisham Siddique (@iMShami_) January 23, 2023
The disruption affected over 117 grid stations in Islamabad. The Islamabad Electric Supply Company’s spokesperson stated that electricity was being restored in a phased manner.
As the country plunged into darkness, Pakistanis resorted to Twitter to vent their frustrations. With no sign of relief in sight, Pakistani users began using the hashtag #ElectricityShutDown to share their misery in their own country. ‘Welcome to Purana Pakistan’ also started trending on Twitter.
One Twitter user Abdul Latif Mehsood shared an image of how he lit the tail lamp of his bike to lighten his otherwise pitch-dark residence due to the power outage in Pakistan.True facts of the nation #ElectricityShutDown,” tweeted another frustrated Pakistani user, highlighting the crisis-hit nation’s worsening conditions.
https://twitter.com/pakmujaheed/status/1617545141295919104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1617545141295919104%7Ctwgr%5E164a43b740fba112c5e72207a040763bbf0256b9%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.opindia.com%2F2023%2F01%2Fpeople-of-pakistan-share-their-woes-on-twitter-power-outage-hits-country-amid-severe-economic-crisis%2F
People in Pakistan shared videos of how the power outage was affecting daily lives. Orange train service has stopped, trains halted at places in Beach track, and passengers were trapped inside the train, a Twitter user claimed. Another video showed people walking on the track on foot.
As large swathes of the country continued to face power cuts, several other Pakistani social media users took to Twitter to vent out their frustration, cloaked in humour.
Many Pakistani Netizens posted funny memes with the ‘Welcome Back to Purana Pakistan’ jibe, which Pakistan opposition leader Bilawal Bhutto used after Imran Khan’s removal as Prime Minister after losing the no-trust vote in 2022, to get through the blackout.
Some irate users also shared videos of how Pakistan slipped into an acute crisis with frustrated citizens killing each other for basic needs such as food and energy.
Major power breakdown in Federal Capital since early morning but am told it may be far beyond just Islamabad. Anyone know the situation? Incompetent cabal of crooks bringing the country down while they save their looted wealth abroad! This is what Conspirators wanted?
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) January 23, 2023
Undoubtedly, Pakistan has been experiencing its worst economic crisis amidst food shortages, flash floods, and poverty. According to the State Bank, Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves last week dropped to $4.3 billion, the lowest level since February 2014.
A cash-strapped and desperate Pakistan in a bid to revive the long-awaited International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme has agreed to accept all the conditions laid down by the IMF.
Islamabad has also requested the IMF to send its mission to conclude the USD 6 Billion bailout programme which was initially agreed upon in 2019. It is, however, highly unlikely that the IMF would release the funds, at least not till the Pakistani government fulfils its pledges.
Other than this, Pakistan, which was declared South Asia’s weakest economy by a report is also hit by a severe food crisis. The situation in several cities of Pakistan is so dire that flour is being rationed and guarded by armed guards. Prices of flour and wheat have witnessed a dramatic surge.
The desperate situation has triggered chaos and some clashes among people were also seen in various parts of the country in the past few days.Now this massive power outage, which has affected all major cities including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar, has only exacerbated the country’s existing problems.
