Pakistan

Singer and actor Babbu Maan has big hopes for Punjabi films, especially if more releases were allowed in Pakistan. He discuses his new film Banjara, or Gypsy, and the health of the Punjabi film industry, along with the partition of his home state of Punjab, with Vivienne Nunis.
(Photo: Babbu Maan, Credit: Sarang Gupta/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

India and Pakistan haven't had the best relations in recent decades. Before 1947 they were one country. After Partition, the state of Punjab was split in two.

But things could be looking up. Local news has recently been dominated by the construction of a new international corridor that will allow Indian Sikhs to cross the border and visit a significant temple just inside Pakistan. 

There are also hopes that increased trade between the two sides will lift economic growth in Punjab. Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria spoke to the BBC's Vivienne Nunis.

(Image: A Pakistani stockbroker monitors shares during a trading session at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in Karachi. Credit: Getty Images)

We take in the sights and sounds along the ancient trade route known as the Grand Truck Road in Punjab, Northern India, with a stop at Khalsa College, a magnificent building in Jalandhar. 

The route used to supply the whole of the sub-continent as a key trade route but that ended with partition in 1947.

Vivienne Nunis reports.
(Image: Khalsa College, Jalandhar, Credit: BBC)

The River Ravi snakes along the border between Pakistan and India in the Punjab region. The border splits a region that shares a common language, heritage and culture and many locals still lament the building of a fence there in 2003. Vivienne Nunis has been talking to locals on the Indian side.
(Image: Sunset over River Ravi, Credit: BBC)