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From Our Own Correspondent: Pakistan and Mongolia

Pakistan and Mongolia

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Pakistan and Mongolia

John Murphy presents personal stories from correspondents Aleem Maqbool and Robin Irvine.

John Murphy presents personal stories from correspondents abroad. Today: Aleem Maqbool on the very little help available to Pakistan's flood victims; Robin Irvine on horses and wrestlers in Mongolia.

John Murphy introduces personal stories, wit and insight from correspondents around the world. In this edition, Aleem Maqbool finds the Pakistani province of Sindh overrun with flood refugees who're receiving very little help; Robin Irvine finds stamina is all in Mongolia - for wrestlers as well as horses.


A drowned world - and little help

The southern areas of Pakistan are under water again. Over eight million people are thought to be affected so far. Last year, too, devastating floods covered more of the country  - but then they also attracted a lot of international notice and donations. This time around there's been far less attention paid to the families fleeing the rising waters.

Aleem Maqbool has been visiting the worst affected province, Sindh, and says people there now feel abandoned - by everyone.


Where staying power is what counts

When Mongolia abandoned its Soviet-style one-party state in 1990, there was great hope this vast landlocked country could take advantage of its untapped mineral wealth and start to flourish. But, with the withdrawal of Soviet support, poverty and unemployment grew instead. Outside the capital the centuries-old nomadic herding life till persists, despite the pressures of urbanization and some savage freezes in recent years. 

Robin Irvine, who knows a thing or two about horses and hand-to-hand fighting himself, recently joined a local gathering ... and got more than he bargained for.

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