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☆ Pakistan's Political Art on Trucks Hurt by Preference for Posters
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

By Fayaz Aziz and Mushtaq AliPESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Colourful trucks with paintings of political leaders that once dotted Pakistan's roads and highways ahead of elections are missing this poll season, replaced mostly by the printing on posters and banners. Kaleidoscopic murals of flowers, Islamic motifs, calligraphy, snow-capped Himalayan peaks, local mosques and popular figures are renowned examples of Pakistani truck art. Before printing posters became widespread, truck paintings of leaders, particularly in the run-up to elections, were a much sought after campaign medium. The city in Pakistan's northwest is one of the country's major hubs for the art form. Ahmad said painters are now limited to regular truck art, with business also being hurt by rising prices.

Persons: Fayaz Aziz, Mushtaq Ali, Shakeel Ahmad, Imran Khan's, Imran Khan, Ahmad, Zaffar Ali, Nawaz Sharif, Ali, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sohail Ghuri, Bansari Mayur, YP Rajesh, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Reuters, Supreme, Pakistan, YP Locations: Mushtaq Ali PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Peshawar, Pakistan's, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

☆ Pakistan speeds up Afghans' repatriation after deadline expires
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Mushtaq Ali | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Those arriving in Afghanistan complained of hardships they had to face to move out of Pakistan and uncertainty over their future. We had very bad situation," said Mohammad Ismael Rafi, 55, who said he lived for 22 years in the southwestern Pakistani border town of Chaman where he had a retail business. Pakistani authorities started rounding up foreigners, most of them Afghans, hours before the deadline. Khan, the official, said 19,744 Afghans had crossed the Torkham border on Thursday, 147,949 in total since the government announced the deadline. More than 35,000 undocumented Afghans have left through another southwestern Pakistani border crossing at Chaman.

Persons: Abdul Nasir Khan, Mohammad Ismael Rafi, Rafi, Sarfraz, Khan, Asif Shahzad, Ariba Shahid, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Kim Coghill, Nick Macfie Organizations: United Nations, Refugees, Kabul, Reuters, Authorities, Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council, International, Thomson Locations: burqa, Pakistan, UNHCR, Azakhel, Nowshera, PESHAWAR, Afghanistan, Torkham, Khyber, Pakistani, Chaman, Kandahar, Helmand province, Peshawar, U.S, Karachi, Kabul

☆ Pakistan official: 104,000 undocumented Afghans returned to Afghanistan through Torkham border
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Afghan citizens wait with their belongings to cross into Afghanistan, after Pakistan gives the last warning to undocumented immigrants to leave, at the Friendship Gate of Chaman Border Crossing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border in Balochistan Province, in Chaman, Pakistan October 31, 2023. REUTERS/Abdul Khaliq Achakzai Acquire Licensing RightsPESHAWAR, Pakistan Nov 1 (Reuters) - More than 100,000 undocumented Afghan nationals have returned voluntary to Afghanistan through the northwestern Torkham border crossing in the last two weeks, a Pakistani government official said on Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner Abdul Nasir Khan said the Afghan nationals had traveled from across Pakistan to the border crossing. Pakistan's deadline to expel all undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals, is expiring later on Wednesday. Reporting by Mushtaq Ali; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Abdul Khaliq Achakzai, Abdul Nasir Khan, Mushtaq Ali, Asif Shahzad, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Balochistan Province, Chaman, Rights PESHAWAR

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts, one of which trapped dozens of people under rubble, media said. [1/4]People gather outside the Mastung hospital, following a deadly suicide attack on a religious gathering in Balochistan province, Pakistan, September 29, 2023 in this handout image. The TTP, responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks in Pakistan since its formation in 2007, denied responsibility for Friday's blasts. In July, more than 40 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at a religious political party's gathering. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for that attack.

Persons: Prophet Mohammed, Abdul Rasheed, Munir Ahmed, Shaheed Nawab Ghous Bakhsh, Fazal Akbar, Pakistan's, Saleem Ahmed, Mushtaq Ali, Shivam Patel, Gibran Peshimam, Miral Fahmy, Clarence Fernandez, Philippa Fletcher Organizations: Reuters, Geo News, REUTERS Acquire, Militant, Islamic State, Thomson Locations: Afghan, QUETTA, PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Balochistan, Madina Mosque, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan province, Handout, Hangu, Afghanistan, Taliban Pakistan, Peshawar, Quetta, Shahid, Karachi

☆ Pakistani vocational school helps Afghan women refugees build businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Mushtaq Ali | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] An Afghan girl attends painting and art class at the Skills Academy for Needy Aspirants (SANA) in Peshawar, Pakistan July 12, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz Acquire Licensing RightsPESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept 28 (Reuters) - In a small workshop in the bustling northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, a dozen Afghan women sit watching a teacher show them how to make clothes on a sewing machine. Officials say hundreds of thousands of Afghans have travelled to Pakistan since foreign forces left and the Taliban took over in 2021. Basheer said that her main focus was expanding operations for Afghan women and she has also included some Pakistani women in the program to boost their opportunities in the conservative area. Once graduating from the three-month course, the women are focused on earning a modest but meaningful income, often starting their own businesses.

Persons: SANA, Fayaz Aziz, Mahra Basheer, Basheer, Fatima, Mushtaq Ali, Charlotte Greenfield, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Skills Academy, REUTERS, Rights, Taliban, United Nations, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Afghan, Peshawar, Pakistan, Rights PESHAWAR, Afghanistan, Peshawar –

PESHAWAR/KABUL, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The main Afghanistan-Pakistan land border crossing reopened on Friday after being closed for nine days following firing between guards on both sides, a senior Pakistani official told Reuters. Thousands of travellers and hundreds of trucks laden with goods were left stranded last week by the closure the Torkham border crossing, at the western end of the fabled Khyber Pass. Spokespersons for Pakistan's foreign ministry and the Afghan authorities in Nangarhar province confirmed the reopening of the crossing. "The border closure was causing huge losses to traders and common people of the two neighbouring countries," Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry said. The Taliban foreign ministry criticised the closure of the crossing and said Pakistan security forces had fired on its border guards as they fixed an old security outpost.

Persons: It's, Abdul Nasir Khan, Torkham, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, Amir Khan Muttaqi, Mushtaq Ali, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Gibran Peshimam, Tom Hogue, Gerry Doyle, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Reuters, Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Thomson Locations: PESHAWAR, KABUL, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Pakistan's Khyber, Nangarhar province, Pakistani, Peshawar, Jalalabad, Nangarhar, Kabul, Torkham

Tens of millions of dollars have poured back into Pakistan's interbank and openmarkets, dealers say, since raids on black market operators began on Sept. 6. Ninety percent were going to black market dealers, cutting our supply of foreign exchange," Bostan explained. While a crackdown on the black market was needed to stabilise the rupee, it "is a temporary fix," said Fahad Rauf, Head of Research at Ismail Iqbal Securities. High inflation and chronic external deficits lie at the heart of the currency's problem, and closing off people's access to black market dollars risks storing up pent-up demand. "There is an unprecedented demand for the dollar," Hanifullah Mohmand, a trader in the Peshawar market, said.

Persons: Akhtar Soomro, Asim Munir, Malik Bostan, Bostan, General Munir, Haji Luqman Khan, Sheikh Allauddin, ECAP, Fahad Rauf, Ismail Iqbal, Ariba Shahid, Mushtaq Ali, Gibran Peshimam, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: REUTERS, Pakistan, Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan, Reuters, Federal Investigation Agency, FIA, Inter, Services Intelligence, ISI, Locals, International Monetary Fund, IMF, Research, Ismail, Ismail Iqbal Securities, Thomson Locations: Karachi, Pakistan, KARACHI, PESHAWAR, Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore, Quetta, Afghanistan

[1/4] View of partial traffic with the Karachi Port Trust building, in the background, during a shutter down and wheel-jam strike called by the traders and the religious and political party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), against the hikes in power billings, during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan September 2, 2023. Acquire Licensing Rights Read moreLAHORE, Pakistan, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Public markets across Pakistan stayed closed on Saturday due to a strike by retail associations over rising electricity prices and brisk inflation, as the country embarks on a tricky path to economic recovery. "Today, traders are observing a shutter down strike across Pakistan against the over charging electricity tariff and unjustified taxes," Ashraf Bhatti, president of the All Pakistan Traders Association, told Reuters. Major markets in Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan's two largest cities, remained shut on Saturday though grocery shops in populated neighbourhoods and medical stores stayed open. "It is the matter of the entire country as the common man is being badly affected," said Abdul Rehim Kakar, leader of a traders' association of Balochistan.

Persons: Ashraf Bhatti, Abdul Rehim Kakar, Mubasher Bukhari, Saleem Ahmed, Mushtaq Ali, Akhtar Soomro, Gibran Peshimam, Helen Popper Our Organizations: Trust, Islami, International Monetary Fund, All Pakistan Traders Association, Reuters, Jamaat, Thomson Locations: Karachi, billings, Pakistan, LAHORE, Lahore, Pakistan's, Quetta, Balochistan province, Balochistan, Peshawar

Children receive first aid after they were rescued from the stranded chairlift, in Battagram, Pakistan August 22, 2023. "I can't tell you what we experienced yesterday when one cable of the cable car suddenly snapped and we were stranded in the air," said Faraz, who at 20 years old was the only adult aboard, and the only person with a cell phone. The journey by cable car usually took just a matter of minutes, whereas travelling on the rough mountain roads and tracks takes hours. "Our first priority was to secure the children," caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar said, describing the feat as "near impossible". Those prayers were answered for Faraz and the children.

Persons: Gul Faraz, Faraz, Anwar ul Haq Kakar, Kakar, Mushtaq Ali n, Asif Shahzad, Simon Cameron, Moore, Andrew Heavens Organizations: REUTERS Acquire, Commandos, Geo, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Battagram, Pakistan, PESHAWAR, Jhangri, Battangi, Karachi, Mushtaq Ali n Peshawar, Islamabad

☆ Children stranded in chair lift 900 feet above ground in northern Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISLAMABAD, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Eight people, including six school children, were trapped in a malfunctioning chair lift in northern Pakistan on Tuesday, officials said, and a military helicopter has been dispatched to rescue them. The children, who have been stranded since about 6 a.m local time (0100 GMT), were using the chair lift to get to school in a mountainous area in Battagram, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) north of Islamabad. "A cable broke in a chair lift service, following which people have been trapped 900 feet (274 metres) above the ground," Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said in a statement. It said an army helicopter had been moved to the area for a rescue operation after attempts at fixing the fault had been unsuccessful. Reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar; Editing by Sharon SingletonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Asif Shahzad, Mushtaq Ali, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Disaster Management Authority, Thomson Locations: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Battagram, Islamabad, Peshawar

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