QUETTA: Wearing hair nets and face masks, shopkeepers carefully packed fried lentils, chickpeas, potato chips and other nimco snacks into plastic bags for hoards of eager Eid Al-Fitr shoppers earlier this week. 
The scene is from a shop on Quetta’s famous Masjid Road, where hundreds of customers have been arriving daily ahead of the Eid holiday to buy nimco, a popular traditional Pakistani snack, typically a mix of fried ingredients like lentils, chickpeas, potatoes, nuts, and spices. Nimco is characterized by its crispy texture and spicy flavor, making it a popular snack for social gatherings and special occasions. 
While many Pakistanis celebrate the Eid festival with sweets like vermicelli, rice puddings and jalebi funnel cakes, in Quetta, nimco is the go-to snack.
“This bazaar is called Masjid Road and its specialty is that it is known as the Nimco Bazaar,” said Waled Sabir, a customer. “All the nimco varieties available in Pakista can be found here.”

Safiullah Khan, the owner of a 35-year-old nimco store on Masjid Road, said he was at his shop all day long in the days before Eid to cater to holiday revelers. 
“Fried potato chips, lentils and mixed nimco are the basic and most in-demand items on Eid,” he said. 

Apart from the appeal of its salty and crunchy flavor, nimco was also popular because of its affordability, Khan said. 
“Nimco is an important and affordable item for many Pakistanis during Eid and not as expensive as other dried fruits,” he said.
Syed Akram Shah, 52, agreed that nimco was a popular alternative to expensive dried fruits. 
“Dry fruits are not accessible to poor masses but nimco is an affordable refreshment for us on Eid,” he said as he shopped earlier this month on Masjid Road for fried lentils, his favorite type of nimco. 

“There is no Eid without nimco because we serve these crunchy snacks to our relatives and friends with a cup of tea when they come over for Eid,” Shah, who had tracelled from Mastung city located around 50 kilometers from Quetta, said. “It is a tradition in Balochistan.” 
Waleed Sabir, who lives in Quetta, said he had come to Masjid Road because he knew he would find all kinds of nimco there to buy for the Eid holiday.

“People of Balochistan are very hospitable and every dining table in every house will be decorated with refreshment items and nimco during the three days of Eid.”
Though Balochistan has seen rise in militant attacks in recent months, which have dampened Eid shopping, many shoppers and sellers said nimco was still a hot favorite. 
“Compared to the past [Eids], activities [in markets] have declined a bit due to the law and order and the prevailing situation,” said Khan the nimco seller, “but overall things are still fine.”

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration on Saturday confirmed an “anti-terror operation” after an international wire agency reported that drone strikes killed at least 11 people, including women and children, just hours before the Pakistani Taliban announced a three-day Eid Al-Fitr ceasefire.
The strikes targeted what officials described as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hideouts in the Katling area of Mardan district, following a TTP attack a day earlier that killed seven soldiers during an army operation elsewhere in the province.
“An anti-terror operation was conducted in the Katling mountainous area of Mardan district based on credible information about the presence of terrorists,” said Muhammad Ali Saif, spokesperson for the provincial government. “According to reports, this location was being used for the hideout and movement of terrorist elements.”
However, he added as per the information received later, there were some unarmed civilians around the scene of the incident as well.
“It is regrettable that unarmed people were killed in the operation, including women and children,” he added.
While the military has not commented publicly on the incident, police sources confirmed to AFP that three drone strikes were carried out on Friday night. It was only on Saturday morning, they said, that officials learned two women and three children were among the dead.
“In protest, local residents placed the bodies of the victims on the road,” a senior police officer told AFP, saying they were being described by locals as “innocent civilians.”
Another official said an investigation was under way to determine whether militants were present at the time of the strikes.
“It is too early to say whether the places affected were civilian areas or whether they were sheltering Taliban,” he said.
Shortly after reports of the casualties emerged, the TTP released a statement announcing a three-day ceasefire on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr.
“The leadership of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has decided that, on the joyous occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, a three-day ceasefire will be observed as a gesture to allow the people of Pakistan to celebrate in peace,” the group said in a statement.
It added that TTP fighters would refrain from operations on the last day of Ramadan, Eid day, and the day after Eid, but reserved the right to respond in self-defense if attacked.
The TTP, which announced a “spring offensive” earlier this month, has claimed responsibility for around 100 attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in recent weeks.
In Friday’s separate incident, seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in an hours-long gunbattle with Taliban fighters holed up in a house in the province.
The army later deployed helicopter gunships, killing eight militants, while six other soldiers were wounded, according to police sources.
According to an AFP tally, over 190 people — mostly security personnel — have been killed in militant violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan since the start of the year.
Last year was the deadliest in nearly a decade, with more than 1,600 fatalities nationwide, nearly half of them security forces, according to the Center for Research and Security Studies.
Islamabad blames the surge in attacks on militants using Afghan territory as a base, particularly the TTP, which Pakistan says enjoys sanctuaries across the border.
The Afghan Taliban-led government in Kabul denies this, and accuses Pakistan in return of harboring Daesh militants.
With input from AFP