The severe energy crisis that Pakistan is facing today has had enormous negative impact on its economy as well as social and political stability. According to reports, Pakistan is facing a staggering 4,500 MW power shortfall leading to outages of up to 8-10 hours in the urban areas and 14-16 hours in the rural ones. The industrial sector is near closure owing to acute power shortage that necessitates stoppage of at least one shift in most factories. The extreme volatility being caused by this situation is causing untold suffering in the daily life of all Pakistanis. Even the younger set is unable to keep schedule of their studies this exam season. In these circumstances, the government has no other way but to build the all important consensus on building new dams, especially the Kalabagh dam. The good news is that China has expressed keen interest in investing, some say something like $2.5 billion, in the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project. This project would go a long way towards reducing the energy deficiency in Pakistan. According to some media reports, even US officials have indicated that they are open to a civilian nuclear deal with Pakistan too. That is the good part. The bad news is that India has again started beating the drums about Pakistans record on proliferation that US must keep in mind. In my view, before kicking dust on the issue, India must keep its own record on proliferation in mind. The US must also keep plight of the miserable 160 million people of Pakistan in mind while making a decision on the issue. -NOOR, Rawalpindi, March 29.