Download Some 200,000 factories have closed and millions of Pakistanis have lost their jobs as an increasing number of companies opt to relocate.
Textile manufacturing is Pakistan’s largest industry, accounting for half of the country’s total exports and employing almost 40 percent of the labor force.
But electricity and gas outages are driving business away, causing a 50 percent drop in textile exports this year.
Naeem Sahoutara reports from Punjab, the heart of Pakistan’s textile industry.
Download Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio still exists.
Last year, Pakistan contributed 30 percent of global polio cases despite the government’s National Emergency Plan against polio.
This year, 14 new cases have been reported until last month.
President Asif Ali Zardari says polio eradication is the government’s top priority – with anti-polio drive declared as national emergency throughout the year.
The campaign will focus on tribal areas where militant violence had affected eradication efforts.
Shahab-ur-Rahman travels to the province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which has one of the highest polio rate in the country.
Download The Baisakhi Festival is a three-day celebration for the Sikh community around the world – it marks the religion’s founding, the Sikh New Year, and the harvest season.
Sikhism began over 500 years ago in Punjab – regarded as the Sikh homeland in South Asia.
But Punjab is now divided between India and Pakistan, and the holy shrine of Gurdawa Panja Sahib is on the Pakistani side.
Each year thousands of devotees come to Pakistan to visit the shrine for the festival.
Pakistani authorities deploy more than 1,000 security personnel to make sure Sikhs can celebrate in peace.
Mudassar Shah joins the crowds in Northern Punjab.
The Return of Music Scene in Pakistan’s Swat Valley
Saturday, 31 March 2012 12:20
Mudassar Shah
Download The Swat Valley in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was once a famous centre of Pashtun music and culture.
The Valley produced almost half of the singers, musicians, and dancers of the province.
But when the Pakistani Taliban gained strength from around 2007, they eradicated music from the Valley – they believe performers are sinners and music un-Islamic.
Three years ago, heavy military operations drove the Taliban out – and now the Valley’s singers and dancers want to grab their reputation back.
Mudassar Shah visits one family of performers who recently returned to the Valley.
Influential Burmese monk refuses to be silenced: Burma has recently been thrust into the international spotlight. Following the landslide victory of the National League for Democracy in the April by-election and Aung San Suu Kyi finally taking a seat in parliament – Burma is being hailed as Asia’s newest democracy. But the government continues to limit the public, and sometimes political, activities of Burma’s Buddhist monks. Prominent monk Ashin Pyinnyar Thiha is banned from giving any speeches and was recently evicted from his monastery in Rangoon. Citra Dyah Prastuti travels to Hmaw-Bi Township on the outskirts of Rangoon to meet him.
Single Mothers Fight Prejudice in South Korea: In many parts of the world, May is the month for mothers. But in South Korea, there’s also a special day for single mothers, unwed women who raise their children solo. Being a single mom is tough – but in South Korea it brings shame upon the entire family. Many children born out of wedlock are kept secret and adopted overseas. But the adoptees are now returning home to find their birth mothers and are working to curb the prejudice single mothers still face. Jason Strother has the story from Seoul.
