Minority rights activists seek peace and justice as Pakistan celebrates Independence Day

A student waves the national flag of Pakistan outside the mausoleum of country's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, after Pakistan's 75th Independence Day ceremony in Karachi on August 14, 2022. (AFP/File)
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Updated 14 August 2024
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Minority rights activists seek peace and justice as Pakistan celebrates Independence Day

  • Advocates lament religious discrimination, climate of impunity around violence and attacks on minorities 
  • Activists say spaces of interaction, more engagement between communities could present reason to hope 

ISLAMABAD: Rights activists belonging to religious minority communities in Pakistan lamented discrimination and a climate of impunity around violence and attacks against minorities this week, calling on the government to use August 14 Independence Day celebrations as a reminder that it needed to ensure freedom, peace and justice for all.

According to the latest digital census conducted last year, over 96 percent of Pakistan’s population is Muslim, with the remaining four percent comprising 5.2 million Hindus, 3.3 million Christians, 15,992 Sikhs and others. 

Nearly all of Pakistan’s minorities feel that the state fails to protect them, though the government says protecting minorities and improving conditions for them is a key priority. There have been dozens of instances of mob violence against religious minorities in the South Asian nation in recent years, including an attack on Christians in Jaranwala, a town in Punjab province, where churches, homes and businesses were set ablaze in August 2023. In the southern Sindh province, Hindus have frequently complained about forced conversions, particularly of young girls within their community, and attacks on temples. 




Men stand amid debris outside the torched Saint John Church in Jaranwala on the outskirts of Faisalabad on August 17, 2023, a day after an attack by Muslim men following spread allegations that Christians had desecrated the Koran. (AFP/File)

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the hero of the country’s creation as a haven for the sub-continent’s Muslims, ushered in independence in 1947 with a promise to minorities that they would enjoy freedom of worship and equality without discrimination. But for many members of Pakistan’s minorities those words ring hollow.

“Right from the 1950s, we have seen religious minorities being targeted, and therefore, August 14 is a time that should remind everyone that those challenges should be tackled,” Peter Jacob, executive director of the Center for Social Justice, told Arab News.

“The minorities supported the idea of Pakistan with a hope that this country would allow equal rights to all and this will be a democracy.” 

Jacob described the fight for minority rights as a “continuing struggle” by the country’s liberal and democratic forces but said Pakistan needed to revisit its constitutional framework to address the challenges faced by religious minorities, which include various forms of discrimination. For example, a 2022 report by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) said nearly half of the posts reserved for religious minorities in government jobs remained vacant while 80 percent of low-paying jobs were filled by non-Muslims.

“On the one hand, you have equal rights in the [constitution’s] fundamental rights chapter, and on the other hand, there is embedded discrimination based on religion in the operative part,” Jacob said.

“STANDING WITH MINORTIES”

Last week, Pakistan’s president and prime minister promised to protect religious freedoms as the South Asian country marked National Minorities Day, a day it has been commemorating since 2009 on Aug. 11 each year. 

Ramesh Singh Arora, who made history this year as the country’s first Sikh cabinet minister, said the provincial government in Punjab, where he is the minister for minorities, was trying to improve the plight of marginalized communities. 

Listing the achievements of the Punjab government in the five months since the new administration was sworn in, the minister for minorities said the minority affairs department had seen a 188 percent increase in its budget, with the minority development fund increased from Rs1.5 million to Rs2.5 billion. Grants for religious festivals of minority groups had increased almost 600 percent, Arora said. 




Punjab Minorities Minister Ramesh Singh Arora speaks to Arab News Pakistan in Lahore, Pakistan on August 11, 2024. (AN photo)

“This means that we are standing with our minorities, we look after them,” he told Arab News. 

“The worship places that had fallen to landgrabbers, for a long time now, whether it was the Christian community, the Hindu community and some gurudwaras [Sikh temples], we had those freed, so we are determined and committed that in Punjab we are going to protect our minorities.”

In June this year, the Punjab government also approved the Sikh Marriage Act, which had been championed by Arora for years.

“Today, the Sikh marriage act [2018] rules are in place, we are trying to implement them, we are trying to enact the Hindu personal laws as well, we are working on Christian personal laws,” he said. 

“Hindu marriage act has been passed in the national assembly, the rules of business are almost in place, we have started working on implementation. My own department has a five-year road map we are working toward.”

On National Minorities Day, the Punjab Assembly called a special session to commemorate minorities “for their services to and love for Pakistan.”

Even at that session, Arora pointed out, the problems of minorities were spoken about openly rather than brushed under the rug:

“[We] discussed a way out from those situations, because we are focused on addressing the reservations that minorities have, and the rightful demands they make of the state.”

“Minorities have valid demands which the government must resolve,” the minister added. “We are actively working to address them.”

“HEREIN LIES OUR HOPE”

A rights activist from the Hindu community, Jayaa Jaggi, said the green and white colors in the Pakistani flag were more than just national colors, with the white representing religious minorities and serving as a reminder of their presence in the country as well as of their rights. 

“I think that’s the biggest hope, biggest privilege that probably hardly any other country has recognized for their religious minorities,” she told Arab News.

However, despite some progress made on basic rights, including job and educational quotas, there were still many challenges left, such as “hate speech in the curriculum,” Jaggi said. 

Executive director of the Christian Study Center in Rawalpindi, Jennifer Christine Jag Jivan, said “spaces of greater interaction” could present opportunities for things to improve in the future.




Executive director of the Christian Study Center in Rawalpindi, Jennifer Christine speaks during an interview with Arab News in Islamabad on August 12, 2024. (AN Photo)

“As a Pakistani citizen, I would like to say that wherever there are challenges, only there, people of vision, people of faith and people of hope need to find those spaces of more interaction, moving toward greater justice, moving toward greater peace,” Jivan said. 

“And we need to find those spaces of greater love. Herein lies our hope.”


Pakistan’s Punjab deploys over 43,000 police personnel for security on Eid Al-Adha

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Pakistan’s Punjab deploys over 43,000 police personnel for security on Eid Al-Adha

  • Punjab Police places province on “high alert” amid deteriorating security situation across Pakistan
  • Police personnel deployed to secure 28,074 mosques and 890 open-air Eid prayer venues, says report

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.”


‘The Pakistani Vibe’: Inside the imagined worlds of renowned art director Hashim Ali

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‘The Pakistani Vibe’: Inside the imagined worlds of renowned art director Hashim Ali

  • One of Pakistan’s most renowned Pakistani visual artists and art directors, Ali is known for creating visually stunning and intricate sets
  • Ali has worked on some of Pakistan’s biggest music videos and fashion shows, bringing centuries-old aesthetics to modern storytelling

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.’.”


Pakistan’s first post-Hajj flight to arrive in Karachi on June 11

Updated 07 June 2025
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Pakistan’s first post-Hajj flight to arrive in Karachi on June 11

  • Air Blue flight PA-1766 scheduled to arrive in Karachi with 148 pilgrims on board, says religion ministry
  • Pakistan concluded pre-Hajj flight operations last month, with over 115,000 pilgrims arriving in Saudi Arabia

KARACHI: Pakistan’s first post-Hajj flight carrying pilgrims back to the country is scheduled to arrive in the southern port city of Karachi on June 11, a letter issued by the religion ministry said this week.

Pakistan concluded its 33-day pre-Hajj flight operation last month, with more than 115,000 pilgrims transported to Saudi Arabia for the annual Islamic pilgrimage.

Every year Pakistan arranges special Hajj flights to facilitate thousands of Pakistani Muslims traveling to the Kingdom for the pilgrimage and back. The operation involves both government and private schemes, as well as coordination with multiple airlines to ensure smooth transit.

“The first Hajj flight of Air Blue Airline, PA–1766, is scheduled to arrive at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, on 11th June 2025 at 13:35 hours from Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, carrying 148 Hujjaj,” a letter written addressed to the airport manager at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport by the religion ministry said.

The letter said Riaz Hussain Shah Shirazi, the provincial minister for Auqaf, will welcome the pilgrims upon their arrival at the airport.

“You are kindly requested to make the necessary arrangements in accordance with past practices and provide intimation to this Directorate accordingly,” the letter added.

As many as 88,260 Hajj pilgrims arrived in Saudi Arabia via the government scheme through 342 flights from various cities of Pakistan this year while over 27,000 arrived via private tour operators.

The Hajj flights were operated by a range of air carriers including Pakistan International Airlines, Saudi Airlines, SereneAir, Airblue and AirSial.


From Pakistan to Spain via Canaries, smugglers using more dangerous migration routes

Updated 07 June 2025
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From Pakistan to Spain via Canaries, smugglers using more dangerous migration routes

  • Forty-four fellow Pakistani migrants died during 10-day failed crossing in January from Mauritania to Spain’s Canary Islands
  • Nearly 47,000 people disembarked in the Canaries in 2024, an increase from the nearly 40,000 in 2023, as per Spain

DERA BAJWA, Pakistan: It was supposed to be the final leg of Amir Ali’s monthslong journey to Europe. But he was nowhere near his destination, with only death in sight.

The 21-year-old Pakistani had been promised a visa and a flight to Spain. Yet six months, four countries and $17,000 later, he found himself crammed in a fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean alongside 85 others, screaming for their lives as seawater sloshed over the gunwales.

Forty-four fellow Pakistani migrants perished during the 10-day failed crossing in January from Mauritania’s coast toward Spain’s Canary Islands.

The deadly journey cast a spotlight on how globalized and sophisticated smuggling networks on the West African coast — and specifically Mauritania — have become. Interviews with survivors and relatives of migrants who died revealed how smugglers have adapted to tighter border controls and anti-migration policies across the Mediterranean and North Africa, resorting to lengthier, more dangerous routes.

Ali’s odyssey began last July. After making an initial deposit of 600,000 Pakistani rupees ($2,127), he went to Karachi airport, where he was told to wait for a shift change before approaching the immigration counter.

“The smugglers had inside help,” he said. He and other migrants were swiftly put on a flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

From there Ali boarded a second flight to Dakar, Senegal, where he was told someone would be waiting for him.

Instead, when he arrived he was told to go to the Senegal River bordering Mauritania, a seven-hour taxi ride north. He joined other Pakistanis traveling to the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott. In each country he passed through, bribes were demanded for visas, Ali said.

Imran Iqbal, 42, took a similar journey. Like Ali, he flew from Karachi to Senegal via Ethiopia before reaching Mauritania. Other Pakistanis Iqbal met, he said, traveled through Kenya or Zimbabwe enroute to Mauritania.

WAITING GAME

Once in Mauritania, the migrants were taken to cramped safe houses where smugglers took their belongings and deprived them of food. “Our passports, our money — everything,” Iqbal said. “I was essentially held captive,” Ali said.

During the six months Iqbal and Ali were in Mauritania, smugglers moved them repeatedly, beating them to extract more money.

While he managed to get some money sent from Pakistan, Iqbal did not tell his family of his dire situation.

“Our parents, children, siblings ... they would’ve been devastated,” he said.

Ali said the smugglers lied to their families in Pakistan, who asked about their whereabouts and questioned why they hadn’t called from Spain.

Finally, on Jan. 2, Iqbal, Ali and the other Pakistani migrants were transferred to an overcrowded boat that set course for Spain’s Canary Islands.

“On the day of departure, 64 Pakistanis from various safe houses were brought to the port,” Ali recalled. “The Mauritanian police and port officials, who were complicit, facilitated our transfer to the boats.”

“What followed were the hardest 15 days of my life,” Iqbal said.

Mauritanian authorities have launched several investigations into smuggling networks and, in the past two months, heightened surveillance at the country’s borders and ports, according to a Mauritanian embassy official in Madrid who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to comment publicly.

While migration to Europe has been falling steadily, the Atlantic Ocean crossing from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands has reemerged since 2020.

Nearly 47,000 people disembarked in the Canaries in 2024, an increase from the nearly 40,000 in 2023, according to Spanish Interior Ministry figures.

Until recently, the route was mostly used by migrants from West African nations fleeing poverty or violence. But since last year, migrants from far-flung countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan have increasingly embarked on the fishing boats used to reach the European archipelago.

Smugglers connect with migrants locally in Pakistan and elsewhere, as well as on social media. Migrants post videos of their voyages on TikTok. Although some warn of the dangers, they also share idyllic videos of life in Europe, from Canary Island beaches to the bustling streets of Barcelona and Madrid. For many, Spain is just an entry point for continuing to France, Italy and elsewhere.

Chris Borowski, spokesperson for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex, believes smuggling networks bringing Pakistanis and other South Asian migrants through the Canaries are still “testing the waters” to see how profitable it is.

However, experts at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime warn the route is here to stay.

“With the conflict landscape showing no sign of improvement, movement on the Canary Islands route looks set to increase,” the group warned.

“Because it remains the deadliest migration route in the world, this has severe humanitarian implications.”

The Atlantic Ocean crossing can take days or weeks. Dozens of boats have vanished.

Exact figures don’t exist, but the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project recorded at least 1,142 deaths and disappearances last year, a number it calls a vast understatement. Spanish rights group Walking Borders reported nearly 9,800 victims on the Canaries route last year — which would make it the world’s deadliest migration route.

Only a tiny fraction of bodies are ever recovered. Some shipwrecked vessels have appeared hundreds of thousands of miles away, in the Caribbean and South America.

The boat Ali and Iqbal boarded had a 40-person capacity but was packed with more than double that. Immediately, there were fights between the Pakistanis and the Africans on board, they said.

The Associated Press wasn’t able to locate non-Pakistani survivors to verify the accusations, but reports of violence on the Canaries journey are frequent even among those of the same nationality and ethnicity. Dehydration can cause hallucinations, exacerbating tensions.

“The weather was terrible,” Ali said. “As water entered the boat, the crew threw our belongings and food into the sea to keep the boat afloat.”

On the fifth day, a man died of a heart attack, Ali and Iqbal said. More people perished every day, their bodies thrown overboard; while some died from hunger and thirst, the majority were killed.

“The crew attacked us with hammers, killing 15 in one night,” Ali said. Both men showed photos of injuries others sustained, although AP couldn’t verify what caused them.

“The beatings were mostly to the head — so brutal that people started losing their sanity,” Iqbal said. They prayed for a merciful death, convinced they had little chance of survival.

On the 10th night, after dozens had died, lights appeared on the horizon. They shouted for help. At daybreak, a fishing vessel approached, handing them food and water before eventually towing them to the West African coast two days later. Forty-four Pakistanis had died.

“Only twelve bodies returned to Pakistan,” Ali said. “The rest were lost at sea.”

BACK AT SQUARE ONE

News of the failed journey made international headlines, prompting a pledge by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to go after smugglers.

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency has arrested dozens of people suspected of arranging the journey or connections to the smugglers.

A nationwide crackdown was already underway, but smugglers change locations to evade capture. In Europe and Pakistan, smugglers who are caught are primarily low-level operatives, resulting in limited impact on the overall business.

Staring at the mansions being built around his modest brick home in the Pakistani village of Dera Bajwa, Ali reflected on his wasted journey.

“These are the houses of those who made it abroad,” Ali said. “People like me see them and dream without thinking.”


‘Adornment’ of Eid meals: Meaty celebrations begin with aroma and activity at Quetta spice bazaar

Updated 07 June 2025
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‘Adornment’ of Eid meals: Meaty celebrations begin with aroma and activity at Quetta spice bazaar

  • Spice vendors at Sabzi Mandi become unsung heroes, supplying the flavor base for feasts shared by families across the country
  • Merchants say demand peaks from Balochistan’s interior as well as urban hubs in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces

QUETTA: In the narrow, bustling lanes of a fresh produce market in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, the air is thick with the sharp scent of spices - cardamom, black pepper, cumin, and garlic - heralding the arrival of Eid Al-Adha, a time when food becomes a centerpiece of celebration and sacrifice.

At the heart of the activity is Haji Shair Ali, a 41-year-old spice merchant, carefully measuring out mounds of herbs and seasonings with practiced precision. Armed with a metal scoop and a timeworn grinder, he blends his signature spice mixes for the most anticipated meals of the year: kebabs, rosh, biryani, and stews crafted from the meat of sacrificial animals.

“For us the season lasts all year but during Eid al-Adha, demand for spices increases, particularly for barbecue and Pashtun rosh [slow-cooked mutton or lamb] spices,” Ali told Arab News, smiling through the scent of cumin and cloves at his shop in Quetta's Sabzi Mandi.

“Spices are the adornment of dining. If you cook meat without spices, it tastes bland. Thus, the dishes all depend on spices.”

In the weeks leading up to Eid, which will be observed in Pakistan on June 7 following the conclusion of the Hajj pilgrimage, Quetta’s spice trade sees a surge in activity. While much of the Sabzi Mandi is known for fresh fruits and vegetables, the spice vendors become the unsung heroes of the culinary celebrations, supplying the flavor base for feasts shared by families across the country.

Ali’s offerings include not just dry rubs and seasoning powders but also freshly made barbecue sauces, including a house specialty crafted with papaya and kachri, a spice made from wild melon that acts as a natural meat tenderizer.

“Along with kachri powder, we add black pepper, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, coriander and garlic,” Ali said, listing ingredients like a chemist revealing a secret formula.

While local buyers continue to crowd the stalls, orders now pour in from across the country. Merchants say demand peaks from Balochistan’s interior as well as urban hubs in Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and many spice shops now rely on online sales through social media pages to cater to a national customer base.

As the countdown to Eid continues, Quetta’s spice makers will remain at their grinders late into the night, ensuring every marinade and masala packet makes it to a family kitchen in time for the festival.

“I have prepared different spices for this Eid season, weighing more than 3,000 kgs because we have received many online orders from other cities,” Ali said. “During Eid al-Adha season, we work until midnight, even skipping meals. Ten people work in a single shop to prepare the spice orders in time.”

Customers like Shaharyar Khan, who was stocking up for a backyard Eid barbecue, said the quality during Eid was noticeably better.

“Normally it’s already good, but for Eid, they make it even better so the taste of the food is enhanced,” he said.

Despite the demand, rising prices have frustrated some buyers. Spice merchants attribute the cost increases to inflation, currency devaluation, and the rising prices of imported ingredients from countries like Vietnam, China, India, and Iran.

At the market this week, a kilo of barbecue spice sold for Rs950 ($3.38), up from Rs900 last year, while biryani spice mix was priced at around Rs1,400 ($4.98). Curry blends were going for approximately Rs1,200 ($4.27) per packet.

Still, many say the higher cost was worth it for the quality.

“Last year I bought one kilogram of barbecue spice for Rs900 and this year, it is for Rs950,” said Haji Ajmal, a customer from Kuchlak city near Quetta.

“It’s not a big difference if you compare it to the flavor you get.”