Pakistani architect Aleeya Khan, with minimalism as a calling, creates Karachi home as ‘open canvas’

Aleeya Khan, a 30-year-old Pakistani architect, speaks to Arab News Pakistan in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 26, 2023. (AN photo)
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Updated 29 May 2023
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Pakistani architect Aleeya Khan, with minimalism as a calling, creates Karachi home as ‘open canvas’

  • In Pakistan, there is deep admiration for ornamental designs, with people taking pride in the colonial heritage 
  • Khan’s architectural designs have garnered global attention after challenging traditional aesthetics in Pakistan 

KARACHI: For Aleeya Khan, a 30-year-old Pakistani architect, most buildings with maximal, ornamental designs in Pakistan were prone to become quite “dated” and “antiquated” very quickly. Inspired by Japanese and Scandinavian designs, Khan has ditched these traditional designs for minimalist, more trendy and “timeless” ones in her home country, capturing global attention. 

Defying the norms of ornamentation and maximalist palettes, Khan, who is the founder of ALEEYA. design studio, developed her 2,000-yard home in 2022 in an upscale neighborhood in Karachi in the Japandi style, a fusion of Japanese and Scandinavian designs. The house was built taking into account the sun’s path, the changing light through the day and optimizing cross ventilation, with spacious rooms and large windows allowing ample ventilation and preventing heat buildup.

With the facade horizontally divided, top half featuring slanting protruding masses and the bottom half finished with a customized concrete texture, Khan’s home not just caught the attention of many on social media in Pakistan, but has since been published in a number of design and architecture magazines in India, China and Europe. 

Her designs stand in contrast with the prevalent ornamental and colonial styles seen almost everywhere in Pakistan, where people take pride in having maximalist designs in their homes. But Khan, who has designed a number of structures and some are currently under-construction, disagrees with them and prefers the minimal aesthetic. 

“I think that it is something that is a very clean aesthetic, it’s something that is easy to maintain. More than anything, it’s timeless,” the architect told Arab News this week. 

“I think, a lot of moments, people design, buildings that become very dated and very antiquated very quickly. But the modern, minimal aesthetic has a very long-term kind of impact. And it stays timeless throughout any moment in anybody’s life.” 




The undated picture shows a house designed by Pakistani architect Aleeya Khan. (Photo courtesy: Matt Harrington)

Born and raised in Karachi, Khan’s fascination with architecture began at the age of 10 when she would spend time at the office of her aunt, who too was an architect. She said the small wooden models and the design process captivated her. 

At the age of 17, Khan went to the US to study urban design and architecture at New York University and later acquired her master’s degree in architecture from Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation. Having worked in New York for around seven months, she returned to Pakistan in 2017 after she realized her country needed “intervention from someone of a professional standard.” 

The architect agrees that different people have different kinds of aesthetic and design is subjective, but contends that a neutral palette provides an “open canvas.” 

“For me, you know, the neutral palette is so warm, and it gives you the opportunity to create something new continuously, and it creates kind of an open canvas for you,” she told Arab News. 

“So, it’s something that you’re not restricted by because you’ve not cluttered the home.” 




The undated picture shows a house designed by Pakistani architect Aleeya Khan. (Photo courtesy: Matt Harrington)

The architect says her minimal designs can be consistently unique and not replicas of her house: 

“I always say as a designer, I don’t want to replicate anything I ever do, because I’m a creative person. So, I never want to create this house, for anybody ever again. I don’t like the cookie cutter kind of designs.” 

While Khan acknowledges the progress being made in accepting and empowering women in managerial roles in the field of architecture, she highlighted the challenges that still existed in Pakistan, particularly when it came to authority and decision-making in a traditionally male-dominated industry. 

“In the Pakistani climate, I still think that women do struggle in terms of authority, in terms of dealing with, for example, unskilled labor,” she said. 

“An architect, like myself, having a woman come onto the site and deal with someone who is pouring concrete or doing plaster work, it’s hard for them to understand and take decisions from a woman in that sense.” 

Khan, however, believed people in Pakistan had started realizing that ornamental and colonial-styled buildings were not the “future.” 

“With the advent of social media, they’ve understood global design trends. And they’ve understood that ornamentals and colonial style is not really the future,” she said. 

The architect envisions extending her futuristic approach beyond her home country and plans to market her designs in Middle Eastern cities like Dubai, Jeddah and Doha. 

“I think the Middle East is definitely a market that we want to capture. It is where our aesthetic already very much exists,” she said, adding she planned to open offices in the Middle East in the coming year. 


‘Nothing left’: Indian artillery strike wipes out three generations of women at Azad Kashmir home

Updated 53 min 38 sec ago
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‘Nothing left’: Indian artillery strike wipes out three generations of women at Azad Kashmir home

  • Qaisra Bibi, her daughter-in-law and granddaughter were inside kitchen for morning tea when Indian artillery shell hit their home on May 10
  • India, Pakistan engaged in worst conflict in decades that killed around 70 people on both sides this month until US brokered a ceasefire

Abbaspur, POONCH: Blackened from the explosion, shards of a tin roof loosely hang from the branches of a wild apricot tree in the border village of Chaffar in Azad Kashmir’s Poonch district. What once used to be a modest kitchen is now littered with shattered stone, twisted metal and rubble.

It was here that a mortar shell struck hours before a ceasefire was announced between Pakistan and India. The Indian mortar shell instantly killed three generations of women, a mother, her daughter-in-law and two-year-old granddaughter, on the morning of May 10.

India and Pakistan engaged in a four-day military conflict that killed around 70 people on both sides last month, with the two nations attacking each other with fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery until the United States (US) brokered a ceasefire.

Wajid Kayani, a Pakistani army soldier posted in Lahore at the time of the strikes, took heavy, reluctant steps as he led Arab News to a heap of rubble where his wife, mother and infant daughter had breathed their last in the wake of the cross-border skirmishes.

“[Just a night before], I had spoken to my mother and wife over the phone. They were both worried about the shelling,” he said.

“My mother told me and my younger brother [also a soldier], ‘May God protect you both. If someone has to go [die], let it be me.’ That’s what she said… and I can’t forget it. It’s unbearable,” Kayani said as he broke down.

The photograph taken on May 23, 2025, shows a broken window of Wajid Khan’s house in the border village of Chaffar in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Jammu and Kashmir. (AN photo)

The deceased women were identified as Qaisra Bibi, Kayani’s mother, his wife Areesha Qayyum and their daughter Hadiya Wajid, who would have turned two on May 27.

All three of them were inside the kitchen for morning tea when the first shell struck the house, according to the family. Another shell landed just meters away, striking a tree and punching holes into the surrounding walls.

The kitchen, once used to prepare meals for a large joint family, now wears the look of a charred, cratered space. Broken plates, half-melted pots and a ruined gas cylinder are scattered around.

Faiz Muhammad Kayani, the 70-year-old head of the family, struggled to speak as he entered the drawing room of the house with the help of a walking stick. Dozens of mourners have been visiting the family since the attack, but the elderly man, father to three sons and four daughters, is unable to come to terms with the horror he witnessed.

That morning, Faiz was at his younger son’s adjacent house and was coming to feed the livestock when he heard the shell strike his elder son’s house. 

“I ran… I ran fast. But what was left to see? There was nothing left… just mud and stones,” he said in a shallow voice.

“They were buried underneath.”

A picture taken on May 23, 2025, shows the destruction at the house of Wajid Kayani caused by an Indian artillery strike in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. (AN Photo)

The 70-year-old fell silent before excusing himself from further conversation.

Faiz Muhammad Kayani, father of Wajid Kayani, is pictured at his house in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. (AN Photo)

Bitter rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars, including two over the disputed region of Kashmir, since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety but rule it in part.

The latest conflict was sparked by a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam town that killed 26 tourists on April 22. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which Islamabad denied and called for a credible, international probe.

‘SCATTERED ACROSS BUSHES’

Kayani’s younger brother, Muhammad Sajid Kayani, also a soldier posted in Azad Kashmir’s Kotli sector, reached the house around 2 p.m. on the day of the tragedy.

“Despite the shock, [our] father pulled out the first body. Her [sister-in-law Qayyum] legs had been blown off,” Sajid said.

Their neighbors were unable to help as the shelling continued for hours. Sajid’s sister, who lived nearby, arrived shortly afterward and began searching for their mother.

“She found only our mother’s face. The rest of her body was scattered across the bushes. We had to collect the limbs piece by piece,” Sajid said.

“She found my little niece Hadiya under the rubble. Her left arm was missing. Her stomach was ripped open, and her intestines were outside.”

A picture taken on May 23, 2025, shows the destruction at the house of Wajid Kayani caused by an Indian artillery strike in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. (AN Photo)

But Hadiya was not the only child hit by the artillery fire.

“One of our nieces was just stepping inside through the kitchen door into the main house when the shell hit,” Sajid said.

“She was badly injured, shrapnel tore through her legs. She’s still recovering.”

The family held the funeral by 2:30 p.m. on May 10, hours before their eldest son, Kayani, could return home from Lahore.

“I couldn’t even attend the burial of my wife, daughter, and mother,” Kayani said, citing heavy shelling and road closures as the reasons.

Wajid Kayani (right) shows a picture of his two-year-old daughter, Hadiya Wajid, on his mobile in Chafar village in the Poonch district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir on May 23, 2025, who was killed by an Indian mortar shell on May 10. (AN photo)

The two brothers returned to the wreckage the following day to search for anything left.

“We started clearing mud and lifting stones. That’s when we found more of our mother’s remains, her abdomen, and other parts. It must’ve weighed around 20 kgs. We buried them in a separate grave,” Wajid said.

“On the third day, we found even more, collected in a [huge metal] plate, and buried again in the same cemetery.”

Kayani’s daughter, Hadiya, was laid to rest in the same grave as her mother, Areesha. Her small body was torn apart by the attack and the family had no choice but to bury them together, given the intense shelling and chaos at the time.

His older daughter, just four years old, survived the attack. Her trauma, however, continues to run deep. 

“She flinches at every little thing,” Kayani said. “She barely speaks anymore… just sits there, quiet. Too quiet.”


Pakistan military says seven militants killed in counter-terror operations in Balochistan 

Updated 03 June 2025
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Pakistan military says seven militants killed in counter-terror operations in Balochistan 

  • Pakistan says militants killed in separate operations in Balochistan’s Kalat and Kachhi districts on June 2
  • Security forces have been battling insurgency in Balochistan, country’s most impoverished province, for years

ISLAMABAD: Seven militants were killed in two separate counter-terror operations in southwestern Pakistan on June 2, the military’s media wing said on Tuesday as Islamabad battles insurgency in its Balochistan province. 

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said five militants were killed during an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Machh town located in the Kachhi district on June 2. The same day, it said two other militants were killed in a separate IBO in Margand area located in Balochistan’s Kalat District after security forces discovered a “terrorist” hideout. 

The ISPR said weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the slain militants, who it alleged were actively involved in numerous militant activities. 

“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of Indian-sponsored terrorism from the country,” the military’s media wing said. “And reaffirm the nation’s unwavering resolve to bring the perpetrators of Indian-sponsored terrorism and their facilitators to justice.”

Pakistan’s security forces have been battling an insurgency in Balochistan, the country’s most impoverished province, for years. Separatist militants have often targeted security forces, police, foreigners and ethnic Punjabi commuters and workers, who they see as “outsiders,” by wresting control of highways and remote towns in the area.

Pakistan has repeatedly rejected allegations by ethnic Baloch militant groups that it denies locals a share in Balochistan’s mineral and gas resources. The government points to various health, educational and development schemes in Balochistan that it supports. 

Balochistan has seen a spike in militant violence in recent days. An IED blast killed two tribal leaders and injured seven others on Saturday in a remote mountainous town in Quetta district.

Pakistan’s military accuses India of funding and training ethnic Baloch separatist outfits, the most prominent of which is the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), to carry out attacks on Pakistani soil. Delhi rejects the allegations and accuses Pakistan of stoking militancy in the region of Kashmir that India administers. 

In March, BLA fighters stormed a train in Balochistan and held hundreds of passengers hostage before the military launched an operation to rescue them. 


Pakistani delegation demands resumption of ‘comprehensive’ dialogue with India in briefing to OIC envoys

Updated 45 min 15 sec ago
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Pakistani delegation demands resumption of ‘comprehensive’ dialogue with India in briefing to OIC envoys

  • Tensions between neighbors Pakistan, India remain high after they struck ceasefire on May 10
  • Pakistani delegation will present Islamabad’s position on Pakistan’s recent conflict with India 

ISLAMABAD: A high-level Pakistani delegation set up by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week briefed members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the United Nations, calling for the resumption of a “comprehensive dialogue” with India to resolve the Kashmir dispute and other issues, Pakistan’s mission to the UN said. 

Led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the nine-member parliamentary delegation arrived in New York on Monday as the first stop in a diplomatic mission to present Pakistan’s position in world capitals following Islamabad’s recent military conflict with India. The group headed by Bhutto Zardari will visit New York, Washington DC, London and Brussels. Another delegation, led by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi, will also visit Moscow.

Tensions between Pakistan and India are high after they struck a ceasefire on May 10 following the most intense military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbors in decades. Both countries accuse the other of supporting militancy on each other’s soil — a charge both capitals deny.

The latest escalation last month took place following weeks of tensions after India blamed Pakistan for supporting an April 22 attack on the Kashmir territory it governs that killed 26 tourists. Pakistan denied involvement in the incident and called for an international probe. Both countries traded missiles, artillery fire and drone strikes before Washington brokered a ceasefire on May 10. 

“He [Bhutto Zardari] reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to peace, restraint, and diplomacy, and called for the restoration of the Indus Waters Treaty, full respect for the ceasefire, and the resumption of a comprehensive dialogue with India, with the resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute at its core,” Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations said in a statement on Monday. 

Members of a high-level Pakistani parliamentary delegation, led by former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari (fifth from right), pose for a picture in New York, US, on June 2, 2025. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Following the attack at the Pahalgam tourist resort in April, India suspended the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan. The move drew a sharp response from Islamabad, which said any attempts to divert or stop the flow of its waters by India would be considered an “act of war.”

About 80 percent of Pakistani farms depend on the Indus system, as do nearly all hydropower projects serving the country of some 250 million.

“Mr. Bhutto expressed grave concern at the unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty — a move that Pakistan considers a blatant act of weaponizing water and a violation of international and treaty obligations,” the statement said. 

The former Pakistani foreign minister thanked OIC countries for their efforts and role aimed at de-escalation, mediation and ceasefire during the conflict. He highlighted that the only path to peace was in dialogue, engagement and diplomacy.

“Mr. Bilawal Bhutto underlined that OIC has emerged as the moral conscience of the world in these difficult times and thanked the OIC member states for their steadfast support for the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement said. 

The statement said that the OIC’s permanent representatives appreciated Pakistan’s briefing and reaffirmed their solidarity with the country. 

“They reiterated their concern over the worsening security situation in South Asia and stressed the importance of upholding the principles of the UN Charter and international law and in this regard, the sanctity of treaties, including the Indus Waters Treaty,” Pakistan’s permanent mission to the UN said. 

Separately, the delegation also met Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, president of the UN Security Council for June, according to a press release issued by 
Bhutto Zardari’s residence, Bilawal House. 

“The Pakistani delegation stressed that in the face of a growing trend of unilateralism and escalation, the Security Council must play its crucial role to ensure peace and conflict resolution,” it said. 

The delegation urged the Security Council to play a “proactive role” in promoting de-escalation, ensuring respect for international law and treaties and facilitating peaceful resolution of disputes.

The statement said Birkett reaffirmed the Security Council’s commitment to upholding international peace and security in line with its mandate. 


Over 200 inmates escape Karachi prison after earthquake, confirms Sindh Police

Updated 18 sec ago
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Over 200 inmates escape Karachi prison after earthquake, confirms Sindh Police

  • Sindh’s top cop confirms one prisoner was killed on Monday night as police attempted to maintain order during chaos
  • Prisoners managed to escape outer gate of Malir prison after it was damaged by tremors, says Sindh home minister

KARACHI: Around 213 inmates managed to escape from the Malir prison in Karachi last night after they were shifted outside their cells due to safety concerns when the city was shaken by tremors, Sindh’s top police officer said on Tuesday, confirming that one prisoner had also been killed.

Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hasan Lanjar told reporters earlier that inmates at the Malir prison in Karachi panicked when tremors shook the city on Monday night. He said it became difficult to prevent around 1,000 inmates from escaping through the outer gate of the jail, which had been damaged by the quake. 

“The incident occurred when prisoners were temporarily moved out of their barracks due to safety concerns,” Inspector-General Sindh Ghulam Nabi Memon told Arab News. 

“Taking advantage of the chaos, around 1,000 inmates gathered at the jail’s main gate and 213 prisoners managed to force the gate open and flee.”

Memon said 78 of the prisoners who had managed to flee were re-arrested by police. In his interaction with reporters on Monday night, Lanjar confirmed that no “hardened criminal” had managed to escape the jail following the late-night chaos. 

Memon said Malir prison houses small-time offenders, particularly those involved in narcotics and its consumption.

“The escapees were mostly from this category and their mob mentality played a role in escaping the jail,” he said. 

He confirmed Lanjar’s statement that one prisoner had been killed as police attempted to maintain order following the jailbreak. The Sindh home minister had also said five persons, which included both prisoners and police officials, were injured in the clashes.
 


Pakistan to play in Sri Lanka at India-hosted Women’s World Cup

Updated 03 June 2025
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Pakistan to play in Sri Lanka at India-hosted Women’s World Cup

  • ICC introduced neutral venues to tournaments hosted by either neighboring India, Pakistan
  • Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan were last month involved in a four-day military conflict

NEW DELHI, India: Pakistan will play their matches at this year’s Women’s Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka under an International Cricket Council deal that allows them to avoid playing in host nation India.

The refusal of India to travel to Pakistan for the men’s Champions Trophy earlier this year resulted in the ICC introducing neutral venues to tournaments hosted by either of the neighboring countries.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan were last month involved in a four-day military conflict, their worst since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed.

Sri Lanka’s Colombo will join Indian host cities Bengaluru, Guwahati, Indore and Visakhapatnam in staging matches from September 30 until the final of the 50-over tournament on November 2, the ICC announced late on Monday.

Colombo will be Pakistan’s home for seven group games.

The first semifinal will take place in either Guwahati or Colombo, if Pakistan progress that far, on October 29 with the second semifinal a day later in Bengaluru.

The final will be in either Bengaluru or Colombo on Sunday, November 2.

“The venues for the knockouts are dependent on Pakistan qualifying,” the ICC said in a statement.

“Two alternative venues have been identified for one semifinal and the final.”

Eight teams will contest the World Cup — Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Australia beat England by 71 runs in the final of the last Women’s World Cup, hosted by New Zealand in 2022.