TABUR, Pakistan: The engine is from a roadcutter, the wings are burlap, the wheels are borrowed from a rickshaw: a popcorn seller has caught the attention of the Pakistan Air Force by building his own plane.
The tale of Muhammad Fayyaz has captured the hearts of many in a nation where millions, just like him, have limited access to education and are fighting for opportunities.
“I was literally in the air. I couldn’t feel anything else,” Fayyaz said of his first flight in a machine he learned to build mainly from viewing TV clips and online blueprints.
Pakistan has been thrilled before by stories of scientific prodigies plucked from obscurity before — notably, that of the engineer who said in 2012 that he had invented a car that could run on water — a story that was later debunked by scientists.
But Fayyaz insists he flew and his claim is being taken seriously by the air force, whose representatives have now visited him multiple times, even issuing a certificate to commend his work, he revealed.
There has been a steady stream of visitors wanting to view his creation, which now sits in the empty courtyard of his three-room home in the village of Tabur in central Punjab province.
The 32-year-old said he had dreamed of joining the air force as a child, but his father died while he was in still in school, forcing him to drop out at the eighth grade and do odd jobs to feed his mother and his five younger siblings.
As an adult, his passion for flying remained undiminished, so he took a wild gamble on a new dream and put everything he had into creating his own craft.
By day he worked as a popcorn seller, by night as a security guard, saving every rupee he could.
The first thing he had to acquire was information — beginning with watching episodes of the National Geographic Channel’s Air Crash Investigation for insight into thrust, air pressure, torque, propulsion.
Cheap Internet access in a nearby city helped fill the gaps, with Fayyaz claiming he spliced blueprints of planes he found online for his own creation.
He sold a piece of family land, and took out a 50,000 rupee ($350) loan from a micro-finance NGO, which he is still paying off.
He used his meagre funds creatively, buying burlap sacks wholesale and persuading a kind workshop employee who had seen him scouting for materials to build him a propeller.
There was trial and error. Some equipment needed to be replaced, designs had to be altered, the wiring had to be reworked.
His family worried he was obsessed.
“I kept telling him to stop. I kept telling him to concentrate on his family and work, he was being crazy over nothing. But he didn’t listen to a single word,” his mother, Mumtaz Bibi, recalled.
But Fayyaz kept going. And, at the end of it all produced a plane — tiny, fragile, and painted a bright blue.
In February this year, he said, after more than two years of ridicule, he was ready.
Fayyaz claims his friends helped him to block a small road which he used as a runway for that first flight attempt in February.
The plane reached 120kph before taking off, Ameer Hussain, a witness who claims to have ridden alongside the plane in a motorcycle, told AFP.
“It was between two and two and half feet off the ground,” he said. “It flew for about two to three kilometers before landing.”
AFP has been unable to verify the claim.
But the attempt made Fayyaz bold enough to want to try again in front of the rest of his village, many of whom had mocked his efforts.
He picked March 23, Pakistan Day, for the unveiling. Police said hundreds of people crowded around his tiny plane, many clutching national flags.
But before Fayyaz could even start the engine, the police arrived and arrested him, confiscating his plane.
“I felt as though I had committed one of the worst acts in the world, as though I am the worst person in Pakistan,” he explained, adding: “I had been locked up with criminals.”
The court released him with a 3,000 rupees ($19) fine.
When AFP visited the local police station, officers said they had arrested Fayyaz as his plane was a safety threat.
Officer Zafar Iqbal explained: “The plane was returned to him as a goodwill gesture. Should he obtain a flying license or permit, he is free to fly.”
Fayyaz’s misfortune resulted in social media fame, and he was called a “hero” and an “inspiration” by some netizens.
Representatives from the Pakistan Air Force have made two visits to view the plane and the commander of a nearby base issued him a certificate which praises his “passion and dexterity” in building what it described as a “mini basic airplane.”
The Pakistani popcorn seller who built his own plane
The Pakistani popcorn seller who built his own plane
- Tale of Muhammad Fayyaz has captured the hearts of many in a nation
- Cheap Internet access in a nearby city helped fill the gaps for Fayyaz
Pakistan, Belarus sign MoUs for cooperation in defense, commerce, environment sectors
- PM Sharif is on official visit to Republic of Belarus, holds talks with President Aleksandr Lukashenko
- Corresponding with Sharif’s arrival, second Pakistan-Belarus Business Forum held on Thursday in Minsk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Belarus on Friday signed a series of agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) aimed at enhancing cooperation across sectors such as defense, commerce and environmental protection, state-run APP news agency said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is on an official visit to the Republic of Belarus during which he held talks with President Aleksandr Lukashenko on Friday to review progress on bilateral cooperation. Delegation-level talks were also held between the two sides encompassing discussions on bilateral cooperation as well as regional and international issues.
Over the past six months, a series of high-level bilateral engagements, including the 8th Session of the Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in February 2025 and a subsequent visit by a high-powered mixed ministerial delegation to Belarus in April 2025, have laid the groundwork for Sharif’s visit.
“The governments of Pakistan and Belarus signed a Readmission Agreement as well as an Agreement on Cooperation between the interior ministries of two countries,” APP said, saying another agreement was signed on cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries.
“The two sides signed a Program (Roadmap) of the Military-Technical Cooperation between the State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus and the Ministry of Defense Production for 2025-2027,” APP added.
“Bilateral accords were also signed for cooperation on environmental protection, postal services, business support, trade development and cooperation between trade bodies.”
Pakistan has moved in recent months to increase trade and economic cooperation with landlocked Central Asian republics and other states, hoping to leverage its strategic position as a key trade and transit hub to connect these nations to the global market, while earning much-needed foreign exchange.
Pakistan-Belarus Business Forum
Corresponding with Sharif’s arrival, the second Pakistan-Belarus Business Forum was held on Thursday in Minsk, marking a “significant step toward strengthening bilateral trade and economic cooperation between the two countries,” state-owned Pakistan Television reported.
Senior government officials, business leaders and other key stakeholders from both nations attended.
In recent years, the volume of trade between Belarus and Pakistan has ranged between $50 to 65 million annually, according to foreign office data.
“Our presence here is part of a journey that reflects the evolving and deepening partnership between our two countries,” Pakistani Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan said as he addressed the forum.
He said the eighth session of the Pakistan-Belarus Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC), held earlier this year in Minsk, had opened “new avenues of cooperation” in sectors such as trade, agriculture, education, technology, and pharmaceuticals, emphasizing that both governments were committed to removing trade barriers and promoting involvement of the private sector.
Discussing potential trade opportunities, Khan identified key areas for joint ventures including textile machinery, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, information technology, and e-commerce.
He also announced recent cooperation agreement between the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BelCCI), describing it as an active platform for trade promotion and partnership development.
Khan invited Belarusian investors to explore opportunities in Pakistan’s Special Economic Zones, saying they offered attractive incentives and access to markets of over three billion people. He also noted the recent reduction in Pakistan’s energy tariffs as an additional facilitative measure for investment.
“Today’s forum is not just a ceremonial gathering but a practical advancement. We are witnessing the signing of a cooperation agreement between TDAP and BelCCI that will provide an institutional foundation. This includes participation in trade exhibitions, B2B events, exchange of market intelligence, and facilitation of sector-specific delegations,” Chief Executive of the Trade Development Authority, Faiz Ahmed, said in his address at the business forum.
“This formal collaboration will ensure that the momentum created today translates into tangible outcomes in the coming months.”
Month after Pakistan train hijacking, survivor recalls horror of militant siege
- Separatists’ hijacking of train in Pakistan’s southwestern mountains last month killed 31 soldiers, staff and civilians
- Over 300 hostages rescued after over day-long clearance operation in remote mountain pass in Balochistan province
QUETTA: On Mar. 11, as the dawn light began to cast a soft golden glow over the sky, railways employee Assad Ali finished his suhoor morning meal and left for work as his family slept at their home in Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s remote southwestern province of Balochistan.
An examiner in the Railway Train Lighting (RTL) department for the last 18 years, Ali, 40, arrived at the washing line, an area designated at the Quetta Railway Station for the maintenance and cleaning of passenger trains. He checked and okayed the electricity supply and fan and air conditioners of the Quetta-Peshawar bound Jaffar Express and then returned home to check on his ailing parents before leaving once more for the station to board a train as it departed at 9am.
It was meant to be just another day in Ali’s life, who regularly undertook the 1,600km journey on the Jaffar Express from Quetta to Peshawar in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. But fate had other plans. Four hours into the trip, separatist militants took over the train as it crossed a remote mountain pass, blowing up the tracks and then holding passengers hostage in an over day-long standoff. There were 425 people on board, including personnel from the Pakistani army and other security forces who were traveling on leave.
“First we heard a powerful blast that hit the engine and intense gun firing started at 12:55 in the afternoon,” Ali told Arab News, identifying the location as being five kilometers from the Paneer Railway Station in an area covered with rugged mountains with no road infrastructure or mobile telephone communication.
“The explosion happened inches away from me,” Ali, who was traveling with other railway employees in the last compartment of the Jaffar Express’s 10 carriages, recalled. “I saw one of my colleagues bleeding and dying in front of my eyes.”
Ali said around two hours after the siege began, attackers locked him and others inside a train compartment where he spent the next 28 hours “with the fear of certain death every second.”
The third among his five siblings and the father of three children, Ali spent those hours in prayer and remembrance of his family.
“We heard horrific sounds of blasts and firing sporadically during those hours,” he said. “I was reciting prayers and thinking, ‘the bullet will hit me now, the bullet will hit me now’.”
It was the 10th day of the holy month of Ramadan, Ali recalled, and he broke his fast in the train, while locked in the compartment, with some candies that he found in his pocket. The siege continued into the night and the time for the next suhoor meal arrived. He began his fast without eating anything.
“WE HAD SURVIVED“
The hijacking was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA)’s Majeed Brigade, one of the most prominent ethnic Baloch separatist groups fighting for independence for Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan and has been the site of a low-level insurgency for decades.
Baloch separatist groups accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources including gas, copper and gold, benefitting the country’s eastern Punjab and southern Sindh provinces.
Pakistani governments have variously denied the allegations, saying they are injecting funds into the infrastructure and economic development of the impoverished province.
Nearly two days after the siege began, the Pakistan Army said the Special Service Group (SSG) Commandos had completed a clearance operation, killing 33 militants. The death toll was 31 soldiers, staff and civilians, the military said.
Ali was among the last group in the train rescued by Pakistani security forces on the evening of Mar. 12 and moved back to Quetta.
“It was around 4 p.m. the next day when I heard passengers’ voices, I saw through the train window that passengers were running outside,” Ali said. “That moment gave me the sense that we had survived.”
Far away in Quetta, his family had gone through their own hell as they waited for news about the rescue operation and prayed for their son to return home alive.
“When I saw Assad at the Quetta Railway Station, we didn’t express our feelings with our tongues but with our eyes,” Muhammad Amir Refique, Ali’s cousin, told Arab News.
“Our minds and hearts were stuck on the assumption that Assad had been killed, but when you see that person alive, you can’t describe those feelings in words.”
One month after the siege, Ali has not been able to board a running train again though he has resumed his duties at the Quetta Railway Station.
“I am still in that mental trauma and not able to carry out my duties in a running train,” he said.
“People were martyred right in front of us, before our eyes, so, of course, there is fear in my heart. Now even when someone knocks on the door or someone comes from outside, in the mind it feels like the sound of a bullet.”
Pakistan army says ‘high value’ militant among two killed in northwest operation
- Army conducts frequent operations against militants it claims launch attacks from safe havens in Afghanistan
- Militants have intensified attacks on army and its bases since breaking ceasefire with government in late 2022
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army said on Friday a “high-value target” was among two militants killed in an intelligence-based operation in the Lower Dir district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
In recent months, the military has launched frequent operations in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The army’s target in the area are militants it says launch attacks inside Pakistan and against the army using safe havens in Afghanistan, a charge Kabul denies.
Groups like the Pakistani Taliban, commonly known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have been waging a war against the Pakistani state for nearly two decades in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with what they consider an Islamic system of governance.
“During the conduct of operation, own troops surrounded and effectively engaged the khwarij (terrorist) location and after an intense fire exchange, two khwarij including high value target Kharji Hafeezullah alias Kochwan were sent to hell,” the military said of the latest operation.
The army said Hafeezullah was involved in numerous militant activities targeting security forces and civilians and was wanted by law enforcement agencies, with a $35,714 (Rs10 million) bounty placed on his head by the government.
Earlier this week, the army said it had killed another “highly wanted” militant among nine others also in an intelligence-based operation in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Militants have intensified their attacks since revoking a ceasefire with the government in late 2022, with recent months witnessing significant strikes targeting the military and its bases.
Islamabad airport becomes Pakistan’s first to introduce measures for passengers with mental disability
- Sunflower ribbons issued to eligible passengers will ensure preferential treatment at all counters
- HRW estimates number of people living with disabilities in Pakistan varies from 3.3 million to 27 million
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Airport has introduced a special facility for passengers with “mental disorders,” the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said this week, making it the first airport in the country to offer such services.
This move aligns with international trends in making air travel more inclusive and reflects growing awareness in Pakistan about mental health needs, particularly in high-stress environments like airports.
“Islamabad International Airport is honored to provide special facilities to passengers with mental disorders,” the CAA said in a statement.
A special sunflower ribbon will be issued to people with “invisible disabilities,” the CAA said, so that they were eligible for “preferential facilities at every counter.”
“Children with autism and other mental disorders are benefiting from the facility,” the statement added.
According to Human Rights Watch, estimates of the number of people living with disabilities in Pakistan wildly vary from 3.3 million to 27 million.
Pakistan has enacted a Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act to protect and promote the rights of people with disabilities.
The Pakistani government has implemented policies and programs, including the National Policy for Persons with Disabilities (2002) and the National Plan of Action for Persons with Disabilities (2006), aimed at addressing the needs of people with disabilities.
Several organizations, including the National Council for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons (NCRDP), provincial councils, and disability-focused NGOs, are working to improve the lives of people with disabilities in Pakistan.
‘Incredible event’: Pakistan’s minerals summit attracts global investors
- Pakistan Minerals Summit held this week to attract foreign investment in country’s vast natural reserves estimated to be worth $6 trillion
- Event saw participation from major international companies and government officials from US, China, Saudi Arabia and other nations
ISLAMABAD: Major international companies from the US, Australia, South Africa and other nations have praised a global minerals summit hosted by Pakistan this week for opening up opportunities for investment in the country’s vast natural reserves, estimated to be worth $6 trillion.
The Pakistan Minerals Summit, aimed at attracting foreign investment in the country’s mining sector, saw participation from major international companies including Canada-based Barrick Gold and government officials from the United States, Saudi Arabia, China, Turkiye, the United Kingdom, Azerbaijan and other nations.
Pakistan is home to one of the world’s largest porphyry copper-gold mineral zones, while the Reko Diq mine in southwestern Balochistan province has an estimated 5.9 billion tons of ore. Barrick Gold, which owns a 50 percent stake in the Reko Diq mines, considers them one of the world’s largest underdeveloped copper-gold areas, and their development is expected to have a significant impact on Pakistan’s struggling economy.
But despite rich reserves of salt, copper, gold and coal, Pakistan’s mineral sector contributes only 3.2 percent to GDP and 0.1 percent to global exports. The country is now aiming to tap into this underutilized potential.
“This is really a great event so far for me. I’m meeting some great people, learning about the culture and the event is probably one of the best events we’ve been to recently,” Dave Williams, the CEO of Mudex, an Australian drilling fluids company, said in an interview to Radio Pakistan.
Mudex is based in Perth, specializing in the production and supply of environmentally friendly drilling fluids for industries such as mining, civil construction, water wells and horizontal directional drilling. Founded in 2014, Mudex offers a wide range of drilling fluid products including viscosifiers, lubricants, foaming agents and lost circulation materials.
“The networking and all has been really good … Being able to understand the immensity of the work that is happening in Pakistan at the moment,” the Mudex CEO said about the minerals summit.
Sohail Kiani, president of Canada’s SARF, said he was pleased to see Pakistani “finally recognizing its potential” in the minerals sector.
“Pakistan is a copper country and in the coming years, copper is going to become very important,” he said.
Pakistan’s copper reserves are estimated to be around 6.5 billion tons.
“The geology of this country is very conducive to taking out minerals which the world needs but obviously they’ve been in the ground for millions of years so we need to have a robust policy,” Kiani added.
Leah Boyer Saifullah, Senior Policy Adviser for the Critical Minerals Forum in Washington DC, described the minerals summit as “incredible.”
“I’m so glad to see Pakistan coming to the table, being part of this discussion,” she said. “I think this is going to be incredible for the country and for Pak-US relations.”
Tabassum Qadir, the CEO of Uprise Commodities Africa, said she was attending the mineral summit to explore opportunities at the Thar coal mines, located in southern Pakistan. They represent a significant source of lignite coal reserves in the country and are being developed for power generation.
“There is a gasification feasibility done in South Africa, which I want to implement in Pakistan,” Qadir said.
The businesswoman’s investment signals a renewed effort to harness Pakistan’s Thar coal reserves through gasification technology, which converts coal into synthetic gas for industrial use.
The initiative can reduce energy costs, alleviate the country’s growing fuel import bill and provide a domestic alternative to costly liquefied natural gas.
