Pakistan is among the hardest-hit countries from the war, with LNG supply disruptions from Qatar triggering severe power shortages and blackouts. Falling LNG imports, weaker nuclear and hydro output, and rising demand have forced factory shutdowns and widespread load-shedding. The government faces a dilemma between costly fuel imports and energy shortages, making Pakistan highly dependent on a quick end to the conflict. Pakistan has been at the center of media coverage of the Middle East war as the country that took up the initiative to moderate peace talks. It also happens to be the country arguably most hurt by the war without being directly involved in the hostilities. Pakistan is a big importer of liquefied natural gas from Qatar. With QatarEnergy suspending production following Iranian strikes on its LNG infrastructure, Pakistan has been in a race with many others to secure deliveries from alternative sources. Yet Pakistan is among the poorest nations in Asia, which makes it extremely price sensitive, and that puts it at a disadvantage to its competition. The result: blackouts. On the face of it, Pakistan's energy mix is quite diverse, featuring hydropower, coal, gas, nuclear, and wind and solar. According to data for March, hydropower accounted for 23.5% of the mix during that month, soaring by 62% on the year. Coal generation rose by 7.5% last month, and even gas generation inched up, by 3.6%. However, LNG generation specifically plummeted by 67% as deliveries from Qatar dried up. An 11.7% drop in nuclear generation aggravated the problem and a 34% surge in wind power output failed to offset the declines elsewhere. This month, the situation seems to have deteriorated further with hydropower output growth constrained, due to bad decision-making, according to some observers. The government in Islamabad instituted daily load-shedding for between two and three hours a day, but last Wednesday, the power output shortfall reached 4,500 MW, prompting longer blackouts, all this in peak demand season. Bloomberg reported that factories in the country are having to shut down at night due to the power shortages, and households were taking to illegal gas pumping from pipelines. Meanwhile, the government appears to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. "If we buy expensive fuel, it will increase electricity prices and also put pressure on foreign exchange," Energy Minister Awais Leghari told media last week. "If there is no gas, then there is a power shortfall and load-shedding." What makes the situation even graver is the fact that Pakistan has been trying to reduce its reliance on imported—and costly—liquefied natural gas. Last November, long before there was even a hint of a hot war in Pakistan's neighborhood, state-owned Pakistan LNG Limited deferred several LNG cargoes scheduled for delivery this year, planning to boost generation from nuclear, hydro, and coal. It seems, however, this has not been good enough, with Bloomberg reporting that in some districts the blackouts are lasting a lot more than two to three hours. The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry even said that some industries in the country are struggling with eight-hour stretches of no electricity. As if all this is not already bad enough, chronically cash-strapped Pakistan has had to juggle between power generation needs and fertilizer production from LNG. Meanwhile, per official information, Pakistan needs liquefied gas whenever electricity demand passes 16,500 MW—which has been happening with increasing frequency this month as the weather gets hotter. Unfortunately, hotter weather also means lower hydropower output, which has further worsened Pakistan's electricity supply security situation. There is no fast cure for Pakistan's power troubles. Yet these troubles put its peacemaking mission in an important context. Pakistan is extremely interested in a swift end to the hostilities so energy supply chains can start mending. However, this raises a rather uncomfortable question: how much pain do other countries need to start feeling in order to put some collective pressure on all warring parties to speed up the peace process?