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TO GO WITH PAKISTAN-ENERGY-INDUSTRY,FOCUS BY KHURRAM SHAHZAD
This photograph taken on June 16, 2011, shows a Pakistani labourer working on a loom in Faisalabad. Spinning yarn into cloth has long-been a rare path to fortune in Pakistan, but a crippling energy crisis and rocketing inflation is putting the famed textile sector's riches in jeopardy. Power cuts of up to 12 hours a day have forced factory owners in the country's textile capital Faisalabad to switch off lights and sell their weaving looms for scrap, leaving thousands of workers jobless. The shortages are heaping pressure on Pakistan's crippled and debt-ridden economy. The country is the world's fourth largest producer of cloth and the industry accounts for 60 percent of its export revenue according to latest official data. AFP PHOTO/AAMIR QURESHI (Photo credit should read AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images)