ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani tea seller with striking eyes who saw his life change overnight after a picture of him at work went viral, said he was totally unaware of social media until recently, when boys and girls suddenly started thronging his tea stall to take selfies with him.
Arshad Khan, an 18-year-old with piercing light green eyes, initially became so nervous that he quit his job and went into hiding, fearing he might have done something wrong. But his fears quickly diminished after friends and relatives told him that it was his picture which made him popular and helped him become a model.
It prompted Islamabad-based clothing retail site Fitin.pk to contact him for his first modelling shoot. He now graces the site’s home page modeling t-shirts.
“Chai wala is no more chai wala, now he is fashion wala,” the site said in a message accompanying his photos.
For Khan, one of 17 siblings from Pakistan’s conservative town of Mardan in the northwest, it has been a life-changer. For months he worked at the tea stall, getting paid $5 per day to serve customers from morning to sunset. He says he now hopes to work in TV and films.
“I need money to help my family. I also want to do charity work across Pakistan,” he said. The 18-year-old has no phone and doesn’t know how to read and write, but he has a dream: He wants to educate others.
“I am not an educated person and cannot claim that I will become a doctor or a judge,” he said.
“All I want to say is that I will help those children who are deprived of education. If I get enough money, I will set up schools for children,” he told The Associated Press, sitting at the same stall he had worked at for months.
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Pakistan’s blue eyed tea seller has a dream — to educate others
Pakistan’s blue eyed tea seller has a dream — to educate others
Ethiopian troops mobilize on Tigray border
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopian federal and Tigrayan troops have massed along the border of the country’s northern Tigray region, a Western diplomatic source told AFP on Tuesday, raising fears of renewed war.
The Tigray civil war of 2020-2022 pitted federal troops — backed by local militias and the Eritrean army — against rebels from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and killed at least 600,000 people according to estimates from the African Union.
A peace deal was never fully implemented and there was renewed fighting in January, prompting the suspension of flights to and from Tigray for several days.
“The ENDF (the federal army) is encircling Tigray,” a Western diplomatic source told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that Tigrayan forces “are also deploying toward their borders.”
“Such large numbers of troops positioning themselves face to face is not a good sign,” he said.
A local source in Tigray, also speaking on condition of anonymity, described it as “a massive mobilization of federal forces and Tigrayan forces.”
“If the international community does not exert pressure on the parties to the conflict to resolve their dispute through dialogue, the risk of war increases,” the Tigrayan source added.
Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have deteriorated since they fought together against Tigrayan rebels.
The Ethiopian government now accuses Eritrea of supplying the rebels with weapons, which the Eritrean government has denied.
Last week, Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on the parties to the conflict in Tigray to take urgent de-escalation measures “before it is too late.”
Eritrea gained independence in 1993 after decades of armed struggle against Ethiopia.
The two Horn of Africa countries later fought a 1998-2000 border war in which tens of thousands died.
The Tigray civil war of 2020-2022 pitted federal troops — backed by local militias and the Eritrean army — against rebels from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), and killed at least 600,000 people according to estimates from the African Union.
A peace deal was never fully implemented and there was renewed fighting in January, prompting the suspension of flights to and from Tigray for several days.
“The ENDF (the federal army) is encircling Tigray,” a Western diplomatic source told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that Tigrayan forces “are also deploying toward their borders.”
“Such large numbers of troops positioning themselves face to face is not a good sign,” he said.
A local source in Tigray, also speaking on condition of anonymity, described it as “a massive mobilization of federal forces and Tigrayan forces.”
“If the international community does not exert pressure on the parties to the conflict to resolve their dispute through dialogue, the risk of war increases,” the Tigrayan source added.
Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea have deteriorated since they fought together against Tigrayan rebels.
The Ethiopian government now accuses Eritrea of supplying the rebels with weapons, which the Eritrean government has denied.
Last week, Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on the parties to the conflict in Tigray to take urgent de-escalation measures “before it is too late.”
Eritrea gained independence in 1993 after decades of armed struggle against Ethiopia.
The two Horn of Africa countries later fought a 1998-2000 border war in which tens of thousands died.
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