Chairman of Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Tariq Hameed said Sunday that power supply to 50 percent of the affected areas had been restored.

According to a report by the official PTV, Pakistan's major power breakdown was due to some technical fault.

The WAPDA chairman said that the fault in power transmission from Tarbella in northwestern Pakistan had been rectified and efforts were underway to restore power supply system.

Earlier, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that he had talked to the WAPDA chairman who informed him about the details of the breakdown which has affected some parts of the country.

Replying to a question, Aziz said that he had also directed the WAPDA for a detailed inquiry into the breakdown to find reasons and added that findings of the inquiry would be made public.

Meanwhile Pakistan's Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi has directed concerned WAPDA officials to submit a report within 48 hours on Sunday's suspension of power supply in various parts of the country, according to the official APP news agency.

Spokesman for Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), Shafqat Jameel, said that the breakdown was caused due to fault in a power generation plant at the Tarbela Dam.

TV channels reported that 75 percent of the country's population spent hours without electricity in major cities including Islamabad,Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta.

Officials said that they had restored power to parts of Islamabad and some other areas from alternate sources.

Source: Xinhua