ISLAMABAD: Spectators at the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, arguably the largest such gathering in the world, were “amazed” to see performances by Pakistani camels and learn how they are used for work and entertain purposes in their home country, media reported on Wednesday.
The festival started on December 1 and will last 40 days, with participants from Gulf countries, United States, France, Russia and Saudi Arabia, SPA reported.
“Tourists and spectators were introduced to how camels are used in Pakistan,” the Urdu News website said. “Apart from that, they also learnt how camels are decorated and used in entertainment programs.”
“Spectators who came to the festival liked the beautiful dance of Pakistani camels. About three thousand tourists saw and liked this beautiful camel program.”
Urdu News reported that spectators also got to see how Pakistani barbers decorate camels with motifs.
“Visitors to the festival were introduced to the methods of riding camels in Pakistan and the breeds of camels reserved for children,” the report said. “It was also shown how camels are trained to dance in Pakistan and the different types of work they perform.”
The festival is an annual international cultural, economic, sports and entertainment event organized by the Saudi Camel Club. This year is the sixth edition of the festival.
Pakistani camels take center stage at world’s largest camel festival in Saudi Arabia
https://arab.news/ryfr9
Pakistani camels take center stage at world’s largest camel festival in Saudi Arabia
- King Abdulaziz Camel Festival started on December 1 and will last 40 days
- Participants came from Gulf countries, United States, France, Russia and Saudi Arabia
Four people, including two policemen, killed in twin blasts in northwest Pakistan
- Attack on police van in South Waziristan and motorbike-mounted IED in Lakki Marwat hits KP province
- Violence comes amid a surge in militancy and cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: At least four people, including two policemen, were killed and about 20 others wounded in two separate blasts in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, officials said, the latest violence in a region grappling with militant violence.
One explosion targeted a police patrol van in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan district near the Afghan border, while another blast caused by explosives mounted on a motorbike struck a market area in Lakki Marwat district, according to police officials and preliminary reports.
The incidents come amid rising militant violence in Pakistan’s northwest, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan, straining relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul, with both sides engaged in a military conflict since last month.
“The control room received information in the evening about a bomb blast targeting a police van in Wana Bazaar,” a police official in the area, who did not want to be named, confirmed while speaking to Arab News over the phone.
He confirmed two deaths in the incident while saying more than 25 people had been injured.
The official said rescue teams responded promptly and shifted three seriously injured people to a nearby hospital in Wana.
In another incident during the day in Lakki Marwat, an improvised explosive device attached to a motorbike exploded near shops.
“Two people have been killed and about 10 have been injured in an IED blast in Lakki Marwat,” Raza Khan, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bannu, told Arab News.
“The deceased are identified as Shoaib Ur Rehman and Furqan Ullah,” he added. “Shoaib, the owner of the shop, was the brother of the Lakki peace committee head.”
Peace committees in the region are informal, community-based groups that work with security forces to report militant activity and maintain order, making their members frequent targets of attacks.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attacks and expressed grief over the incidents.
“I strongly condemn the blast near a police patrolling vehicle in Wana Bazaar,” Naqvi said in a statement, confirming the killing of four people, including two police personnel.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are on the front line in the war against terrorism,” he said, noting the force had made “unforgettable sacrifices” in the fight against militant groups.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory — a charge Kabul denies — as cross-border tensions between the two neighbors have escalated.
