Pakistan, July 10 -- The recent announcement of the federal and Sindh budgets has exposed some of the most telling fault lines in Pakistan's energy landscape. The federal government's proposal to impose additional taxes on solar panel imports threatens to undercut the very transition the country so urgently needs. Meanwhile, the Sindh government's budget allocation of Rs 25 billion for off-grid, decentralised solar solutions in rural areas offers a breath of fresh air in an otherwise suffocating policy climate. Amid these contradictory signals, it is difficult to know whether the authorities will allow a people-driven clean energy transition to thrive or block it in the name of short-term fiscal gains.

The state of the national power sec...