KARACHI: Abdul Wahid drops a round mixture of minced meat, maize flour, and spices into a pot sizzling with hot ghee in front of him. A couple of minutes pass before his assistant flips the finished kebabs onto a plate while a waiter attends to eager customers lining up for their takeout orders at a busy restaurant in Karachi.
This is the scene one observes almost every night during the winter season at A-One restaurant in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi. Located in the bustling city’s Shah Faisal Colony area, it offers chapli kebabs, a popular staple cooked at roadside stands, sit-down restaurants and homes particularly in northwestern Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Chapli kebabs are meat patties fried with a generous helping of animal fat or oil. The kebabs are mostly made from beef and mutton and are a mix of white cumin, carom seeds, dried coriander, pomegranate seeds, salt, green chilies, and tomatoes. Though the restaurant serves several popular food items such as chicken karahi dish, biryani and fish, A-One in Karachi has gained renown for its chapli kebabs over the years.
“It [A-One] is famous for chapli kebab, which is our primary specialty,” Wahid told Arab News, noting that over the years, additional cuisines were later introduced to the menu.
A-One occupies a large space now but the restaurant used to be a small shop in the ‘80s when it started.
“Our Mr. Hajji Gohar Rahman, he started with a small shop,” Gul Muhammad Khan, the restaurant’s manager, told Arab News. “First of all, [the biggest success factor] is Allah’s Grace, then his honesty, and then his hard work gave us an entire complex of Peshawari chapli kebabs.”
The first chef of the restaurant, 95-year-old Saeed Khan, brought the popular original chapli kebab recipe from Pakistan’s northwestern Peshawar city, said Khan.
“This is our original recipe; it’s Peshawari,” he added.
Abdul Wahid, the current chef, said what separates A-One’s chapli kebabs from the ones offered at other eateries, is that they are made from high-quality meat.
“We use the meat of the leg only,” Wahid told Arab News. “We use high-quality, hygienic meat, which is why the quality that we started with hasn’t changed.”
Despite being a dish traditionally associated with Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtun community, people of various ethnicities savor chapli kebabs at the restaurant, praising its authentic taste.
“People from every community eat,” Gul Muhammad Khan, the manager, told Arab News.
“Their friends bring them here specifically to introduce them to a new taste, and those who eat, really enjoy it.”
Zahid Jamal, a frequent customer, selected the venue to celebrate his daughter Safiya’s birthday this weekend.
“Today is my daughter Safiya’s birthday, so we thought about going out for dinner,” Jamal told Arab News. “We decided to go to A-One as its chapli kebabs are very famous. So, we came here and enjoyed our meal. It was very good.”
Another regular customer, Aimen Azam, said she regularly sends an uncooked blend of kebabs to her brother in Dubai.
“Last month, I sent some uncooked chapli kebabs to my brother in Dubai,” Azam told Arab News. “I sent him about 6kg in uncooked form last month, and he had it with his friends there.”
ISLAMABAD: With sacrificial goats commanding million-rupee price tags this Eid Al-Adha, many in Pakistan’s capital are seeking solace not in the livestock markets, but in a humbler tradition: a chilled bowl of falooda — a silky, rose-scented dessert layered with ice cream, nostalgia, and just enough sweetness to lift a heat- and inflation-weary soul.
A dessert with Persian roots, falooda made its way to South Asia during the Mughal era, evolving from a frozen, rose-infused noodle pudding in Iran to the vibrant, multi-textured treat beloved across Pakistan today.
At its best, falooda is an edible symphony, a tangle of thin vermicelli swimming in cold milk, softened basil seeds (tukhmalanga) floating like miniature pearls, and a generous scoop of vanilla or kulfi ice cream crowning the glass. The final touch is a fragrant pour of rose syrup, turning the whole concoction into a pink-hued celebration of summer — and now Eid.
Nowhere is this more evident than at Bata Kulfi Falooda, a small, family-run dessert shop in Islamabad’s bustling I-8 Markaz marketplace.
There, amid the clatter of spoons and the hum of Eid shoppers, customers line up for what’s become a seasonal staple, the shop’s signature Matka Falooda, served in traditional clay bowls that keep the dessert ice-cold, even under the blazing June sun.
“We first opened in Peshawar [northwestern city] in 1962,” said Shah Faisal, the shop’s manager, as he rushed between customers to take orders. “In 2015, we brought the same taste to Islamabad. Nothing has changed. The ingredients, the method, even the feel of it, it all comes from Peshawar.”
During Eid week, Bata Kulfi Falooda’s signature Matka Falooda becomes more than a dessert. It’s a celebration in a bowl.
“It’s a memory in every bite,” said Muhammad Kamil, a 27-year-old student who had just returned from a livestock market, saying he was stunned by the jaw-dropping prices.
“Right at the entrance, we saw a goat priced at Rs1.5 million [$5,350]. A little further in, there was a sheep for Rs2 million [$7,140],” Kamil said as he waited for his bowl of falooda.
“After seeing a goat worth Rs1.5 million, only ice cream could cool us down, otherwise it would’ve been hard to keep the spirit of sacrifice alive.”
Determined to celebrate in his own way, Kamil turned to falooda, at a far more palatable Rs450 ($1.60) per bowl.
What drew him in, he said, was the comforting presentation: the cold earthen bowl, the soft noodles slicked with syrup, and the melting scoop of ice cream sinking slowly into the milky depths. He’s even considering gifting bowls of it to friends this Eid.
Indeed, with families across Islamabad and beyond rethinking how to celebrate Eid this year, it may not be the size of the goat that sets the mood but rather the shared sweetness of something simple, familiar, and deeply rooted in tradition.
So, while this Eid may see fewer families walking home from markets with goats in tow, many are still finding ways to savor the spirit of the season with a humble bowl of falooda, which is doing more than just cooling people down — it’s lifting spirits, one spoonful at a time.
According to shop manager Faisal, falooda easily outpaces even their famous kulfi in popularity during the Eid holidays.
“In this heat and with everything getting so expensive, people still want something festive,” he said. “And falooda brings joy that doesn’t cost a fortune.”
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif exchanged Eid Al-Adha greetings with the leaders of Azerbaijan, Qatar, Malaysia, Tajikistan and Malaysia on Saturday, his office said, vowing to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation with them.
Pakistan is celebrating Eid Al-Adha, one of the two most important festivals of the Islamic calendar, today, Saturday. Muslims mark the Eid Al-Adha holiday in Pakistan and around the world by slaughtering animals such as sheep and goats, and the meat is shared among family and friends and donated to the poor.
Sharif conveyed Eid greetings to Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, his family and the people of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.
“The two leaders reaffirmed their shared resolve to further strengthen Pakistan-Azerbaijan bilateral cooperation and looked forward to their upcoming interactions, including at the ECO Summit in Azerbaijan in early July as well as during President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Islamabad later this year,” the PMO said.
The Pakistani premier separately spoke to Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to convey his Eid greetings to him. Sharif thanked the Qatari leader for his country’s “proactive diplomacy” and constructive role in de-escalating tensions between Pakistan and India during their conflict in May.
“The two leaders also reiterated their common desire to expand ties between both countries, particularly through mutually beneficial trade and investment,” the PMO said.
The Pakistani prime minister also spoke to Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, thanking him for his hospitality during Sharif’s recent visit to Dushanbe.
“The Prime Minister also thanked Tajikistan for its balanced position calling for peace and dialogue, during the recent Pakistan-India crisis,” the statement said.
On bilateral relations, the two leaders expressed satisfaction with the positive trajectory of ties, which were growing steadily across all areas of mutual interest, it added.
Sharif had also spoken to the prime minister of Malaysia earlier in the day to thank him for his support to Pakistan during Islamabad’s conflict with New Delhi.
Both leaders discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation between Pakistan and Malaysia.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday reiterated his country’s desire to resolve its outstanding issues with India, state-run media reported, as tensions simmer between the two neighbors following their armed conflict last month.
India and Pakistan engaged in the worst fighting between the two countries since 1999, raising fears of the prospects of an all-out nuclear war. After both countries traded heavy fire for four days, pounding each other with missiles, fighter jets and drone strikes, US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between them on May 10.
Speaking to his Malaysian counterpart Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim over the phone, Sharif thanked him for Kuala Lumpur’s “support and balanced stance” during Pakistan’s conflict with India.
“The prime minister underscored that Pakistan had always strived for regional peace and stability,” state-run Radio Pakistan said. “He reiterated that Pakistan was ready for dialogue with India on all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir.”
Sharif separately wrote on social media account X that he looks forward to Islamabad and Kuala Lumpur deepening and strengthening their bilateral ties.
“I greatly look forward to my visit to Malaysia later this year,” he wrote.
Had a warm and most cordial telephone conversation with my brother, Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim @anwaribrahim of Malaysia. We exchanged Eid-ul-Adha greetings and prayed for unity in the Ummah and peace in Gaza.
I thanked Malaysia for its principled stance during the…
India and Pakistan, bitter rivals since they gained independence in 1947 from British rule, have fought two out of three wars over the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
Both countries administer Kashmir in parts but claim the region entirely. Pakistan accuses India of occupying Kashmir and denying its people their right to self-determination. It regularly calls on India to abide by the United Nations Security Council resolutions and hold a transparent plebiscite in the territory.
India, on the other hand, accuses Pakistan of arming and funding militant separatists in the part of Kashmir it administers. Islamabad has denied the allegations and says it extends only diplomatic and moral support to the people of Indian-administered Kashmir.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Punjab has deployed over 43,000 police officers and personnel across the province for the Eid Al-Adha holidays, state-run media reported, with police placing the province on high alert amid the prevalent security situation in the country.
As per a report in the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) on Friday, the police personnel have been deployed to secure 28,074 mosques and 890 open-air Eid prayer venues.
Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent months. Scores of citizens have been killed in the past in militant attacks that have targeted mosques and tourist destinations on public holidays.
“According to the Punjab Police spokesperson, a comprehensive security strategy has been formulated to ensure the safety of mosques, Imambargahs, Eid congregations, and the general public,” APP said on Friday.
The report said 445 Quick Response Force (QRF) teams will be stationed to enhance security readiness while 11,912 metal detectors, 225 walk-through gates and 10,466 CCTV cameras will be utilized during Eid prayers.
In Punjab’s provincial capital Lahore, over 9,000 personnel will be assigned to secure more than 5,000 Eid gatherings, the spokesperson confirmed.
“Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab Dr. Usman Anwar has ordered heightened security measures for Eid-ul-Adha, citing the current national security situation,” the report said.
Additional police will be deployed at parks and recreational spots during the Eid holidays to ensure public safety.
The Punjab Police chief also issued a strict warning against one-wheeling, aerial firing, kite flying and rowdy behavior, the report said, stating such acts will not be tolerated.
He stressed all mosques, Imambargahs and Eid grounds must be thoroughly checked and cleared before Eid prayers. High-security mosques and Imambargahs (in category A) will have snipers posted on rooftops while plainclothes commandos will be deployed inside Eid congregations, the report said.
“The IG [inspector-general] also directed the Additional IG Traffic to personally oversee the traffic management plan across Punjab, ensuring smooth flow of traffic during Eid,” APP said.
It said police have been ordered to take preventive measures to combat street crimes and highway robberies, while extra personnel will be posted at key locations to maintain traffic flow during the holidays.
“Special instructions have been issued to ensure tourist safety in Murree and other tourist destinations,” it said. “Authorities are required to enforce SOPs for vehicle entry and exit in Murree, the IG added.”
LAHORE: Tucked away in a quiet lane in Pakistan’s cultural capital of Lahore, Hashim Ali’s studio feels less like a workspace and more like a time capsule from the Mughal era.
Large Persian rugs are spread out on the floors and ornate jharokhas overlook walls painted in beige and maroon and covered in wood panels and miniature paintings, creating a world suffused with nostalgia and opulence. Every corner of the studio reflects the vision of an art director who doesn’t just design sets but builds atmosphere. The space is both sanctuary and stage, where centuries-old aesthetics come vividly to life in the service of modern, visual storytelling.
One of Pakistan’s most renowned Pakistani visual artists and art directors, Ali is a Visual Communication Design graduate from the prestigious National College of Arts (NCA) institute in Lahore. Over the years, he has come to be known for his work in fashion, film, and music and is celebrated for his creative vision and attention to detail, particularly in creating visually stunning and intricate sets. His ability to blend historic grandeur with modern maximalism has won him several accolades over the years, including the Fashion Art Director award at the 2024 Hum Style Awards and the Pride of Performance Award in 2021.
In an interview with Arab News at his studio in Lahore’s posh Gulberg neighborhood, Ali, 34, said his passion for visual storytelling came from a history of childhood bullying.
This photo shows a generic view of Pakistani art director Hashim Ali’s studio in a quiet lane in Lahore. (AN Photo)
“When you are bullied, you have to make [up] stories, you have to read stories, so I would get lost in fairytales,” he said.
“I would just start imagining what this world is, what these people are, what is this fantasy that exists out of this world? It started from there.”
The stories he read, full of mythology and folklore, led him to start thinking about his identity as a Pakistani and a South Asian.
“Then I was like, ‘Why can’t we rebuild these memories and these spaces and these places?’”
Pakistani art director Hashim Ali speaks during an interview with Arab News at his studio in Lahore on May 27, 2025. (AN Photo)
Ali’s own studio is a recreation of spaces of the past, a Mughal court in miniature — crafted not from marble and sandstone, but from cardboard, fabric, and imagination. With hand-painted arches, makeshift jalis, and richly colored drapes, the space evokes the grandeur of a bygone empire while laying bare its theatrical artifice. The illusion is deliberate: a paper palace blurring the line between history and performance and reflecting South Asia’s enduring nostalgia for lost splendor and the way identity in the region is often reconstructed through fragments — of memory, of myth, of art.
What one then sees is not just a recreation of the past but a reinterpretation, inviting a dialogue between heritage and reinvention:
“If Hollywood can create all of this [set design] and we think as Pakistanis that we can’t do any of this, then we’re at fault. Because we did create the Taj Mahal. We did create the Lahore Fort … If we could do it then, we can do it now.”
“COMBINED MEMORY”
One of Ali’s most cherished creations was the set for the song “Pasoori,” the first Coke Studio number to hit one billion views on YouTube Music and the most searched song globally on Google in 2022, the year of its release.
Ali, the production designer and art director of the set, crafted it as a communal space, with the bohemian aesthetic of the set, characterized by vibrant colors and eclectic elements, complementing the song’s fusion of reggaeton beats with classical South Asian instruments like the rubab.
This photo shows a generic view of Pakistani art director Hashim Ali’s studio in Lahore. (AN Photo)
Ali describes the aesthetic as “the Pakistani vibe,” exemplified by a new generation that had grown up in the era of globalization and social media and was reclaiming public spaces and dressing up and conducting themselves in ways that merged their cultural heritage with contemporary elements.
“It’s so interesting that now when I’m sitting and I’m scrolling on Instagram or TikTok and I see these reels of girls wearing either ‘saris’ and ‘ghagras’ and they’re dancing in Lahore, in old Lahore,” Ali said.
But the project closest to Ali’s heart is hidden away in the winding, narrow streets of Lahore’s historic Gali Surjan Singh near Delhi Gate. It is a concept store, Iqbal Begum, imagined as a tribute to his late dadi or grandmother, a mathematics teacher who passed away in 2014.
The store has been built in a centuries-old home that Ali rented from a woman who has lived there before the partition of India in 1947 and the creation of Pakistan. The walls are adorned with framed pictures of Iqbal Begum and the shop strewn with things that belonged to her, including old table clocks and dial phones and a tub of Nivea cream, a bottle of Oil of Olay lotion, and a coin purse framed together.
Photo frames of Pakistani art director Hashim Ali’s grandmother hang on one of the walls of his studio in Lahore. (AN Photo)
Ali remembered growing up surrounded by the stories his grandmother told him, including about the violence of the partition.
“She told me a story about how she lost her favorite pen and our house was burned down in front of her eyes and the sense of belonging started happening,” Ali said.
“From that story, this thing of holding on to objects, holding on to people, holding on to stories became very important.”
The concept store is thus not only a way to tell the story of Iqbal Begum but also to create shared memories.
“So, for me, every time I tell a story, I’m passing on my memory to someone else, and when they go and tell someone, in a way, it’s almost like my dadi is still alive,” Ali added.
Pakistani art director Hashim Ali gestures during an interview with Arab News at his studio in Lahore on May 27, 2025. (AN Photo)
And the process is two-way, because people show up with their stories also and can connect with the items they see in the store: “Then it becomes like a combined memory.”
Ultimately, it all connects back to the idea of Pakistan for Ali and to preserving its national, personal and collective histories into tangible, emotionally resonant experience.
“I kind of equated it to the bigger grandparent or the larger mother, which is Pakistan, that slowly, slowly all these amazing things that Pakistanis and Pakistan has done, we’re slowly letting them fade away,” he said.
“The idea from this dadi telling stories to a child has become about this child telling those stories or trying to tell those stories to the world and saying, ‘Hey, we’re Pakistan and we’re a beautiful country and we do all these things apart from what you’re used to hearing about.’.”
