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| India-Pakistan |
| US pulls plug on Pakistani 'Sesame Street' |
| 2012-06-08 |
| The United States has cut funding to a popular Pakistani version of the children's program "Sesame Street" amid allegations of fraud and abuse, a US official said. The program, run under the umbrella of the US-based Sesame Workshop by a local theater group, had been awarded some $20 million in funds from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Known as "Sim Sim Hamara" it included some of the furry puppets beloved by children in the West such as Elmo as well as local characters including Baily, a fluffy donkey who wants to be a pop star, and a crocodile, Haseen-o-Jameel, who loves words, rhymes, and songs. But through an anti-fraud hotline set up by the US, Washington received "what we believe were credible allegations of fraud and abuse by the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, which manages the 'Sesame Street' program in Pakistan," a State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, said. An investigation had been launched into the allegations and Rafi Peer had been sent "a letter that terminates the project agreement," he added. Toner refused to go into the nature of the allegations against the project, which he said had already spent some $6.7 million of its funds. "We do acknowledge the program is beneficial. But, we had what we believe were credible allegations. So rather than to continue to throw good money after bad, we thought it was prudent to cut off this program and wait for the results of the investigation," he told journalists. Sesame Workshop said in a statement that it was "surprised and dismayed to learn about the serious allegations made against Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop." |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 D *** NG, does this I'll never know how Pakland portrayed ERNIE, OSCAR, + COOKIE MONSTER??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-06-08 23:37 |
| #1 $20million! $6.8million gone?! *pounds table* Who the crap thought this was a good idea? Don't they know that the relationship between Big Bird and Snuffleupagus is really a trite parody of the relationship between mo and allan? How about the undead Ottoman Wars hero Christian running about counting things. The only thing which makes sense and would fit in would be Elmo, with his touch of teh ghey and doll who giggles and wants others to touch his places. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2012-06-08 18:19 |