The other Pakistan

The other Pakistan

Advertisement

With her punky hair, Rolling Stones tank top, and taste for kick-boxing, Pakistani interior designer Zahra Afridi bears little resemblance to the image of her country that often comes through in the news.

Although headlines about Pakistan are often dominated by reports of conflict, poverty and social conservatism, some of its more affluent residents, such as Afridi, have worked to fashion a very different kind of lifestyle.

. LAHORE, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Ansa Hasan completed a Masters degree at the Istituto Marangoni fashion school in London and is now a marketing manager for Porsche Pakistan.

She gestures here as she prepares for the upcoming event to promote a new sports car.

. MURIDKE, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Cricketer Sana Mir (centre) sits with her team mate (right) and physical therapist during a training session for an international Twenty20 cricket match.

Mir left an engineering degree to follow her passion for the sport, and is now captain of the Pakistan women’s team, ranked among the world’s top 10 female bowlers in One Day International cricket.

. LAHORE, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Aleena Raza went to finishing school in Switzerland and now manages her mother's textile business, “So Kamal”.

She likes high-end fashion, and is pictured here in her dressing room getting ready for a party.

1 / 17

Slideshow

Rock climber Nazia Parveen jokes with her trainer Imran Junaidi during a practice session in Islamabad.
. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Rock climber Nazia Parveen jokes with her trainer Imran Junaidi during a practice session in Islamabad.

Cricket captain Sana Mir attends a training session in preparation for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 competition.
. MURIDKE, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Cricket captain Sana Mir attends a training session in preparation for the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 competition.

Pilates instructor Zainab Abbas (left) leads a class at her fitness studio in Lahore.
. LAHORE, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Pilates instructor Zainab Abbas (left) leads a class at her fitness studio in Lahore.

Abbas (right) opened her fitness studio, Route2Pilates, in Lahore several years ago and carries out rehabilitation workouts for people with knee and joint problems as well as specialised workouts for pregnant women.
. LAHORE, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Abbas (right) opened her fitness studio, Route2Pilates, in Lahore several years ago and carries out rehabilitation workouts for people with knee and joint problems as well as specialised workouts for pregnant women.

Educationalist and model Fatima (right) uses her mobile phone while a Philippine domestic worker holds her glass of water.
. LAHORE, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Educationalist and model Fatima (right) uses her mobile phone while a Philippine domestic worker holds her glass of water.

Fatima is the CEO of PDLC Beaconhouse, and her mother-in-law is the founder of Beaconhouse School System, a network of schools.
. LAHORE, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Fatima is the CEO of PDLC Beaconhouse, and her mother-in-law is the founder of Beaconhouse School System, a network of schools.

Aleena Raza, who manages her mother's textile brand ‘So Kamal’, reads a book in her bedroom.
. LAHORE, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Aleena Raza, who manages her mother's textile brand ‘So Kamal’, reads a book in her bedroom.

Raza stands behind her three-year-old son Ryan as he plays on his tablet computer.
. LAHORE, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Raza stands behind her three-year-old son Ryan as he plays on his tablet computer.

Erum Ahmed, the CEO of the textile retail brand 'So Kamal' talks to her workers as she visit a factory.
. FAISALABAD, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Erum Ahmed, the CEO of the textile retail brand 'So Kamal' talks to her workers as she visit a factory.

Ahmed started her brand three years ago. She encourages women to work at her company, located in the conservative city of Faisalabad.
. FAISALABAD, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Ahmed started her brand three years ago. She encourages women to work at her company, located in the conservative city of Faisalabad.

The rock band Qayaas rehearse at a private studio in Islamabad.
. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

The rock band Qayaas rehearse at a private studio in Islamabad.

Sarah (right), the sister of a young Pakistani artist named Usman Ahmed (second right) smokes a water pipe as they sit with friends at their home in Islamabad.
. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Sarah (right), the sister of a young Pakistani artist named Usman Ahmed (second right) smokes a water pipe as they sit with friends at their home in Islamabad.

Interior designer Zahra Afridi uses a circular saw as she sculpts a guitar outside a classic rock cafe she designed in Islamabad.
. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Interior designer Zahra Afridi uses a circular saw as she sculpts a guitar outside a classic rock cafe she designed in Islamabad.

Afridi talks to her carpenter at a workshop.
. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Afridi talks to her carpenter at a workshop.

Naadiya Manzur (centre), the director of Treehouse Nursery and Kindergarten School, watches television with her husband Omar and son Zidaan.
. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Naadiya Manzur (centre), the director of Treehouse Nursery and Kindergarten School, watches television with her husband Omar and son Zidaan.

A girl receives a piano lesson at the kindergarten.
. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

A girl receives a piano lesson at the kindergarten.

Children read books at Treehouse Nursery and Kindergarten School, which caters to children aged between 18 months to 6 years.
. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Children read books at Treehouse Nursery and Kindergarten School, which caters to children aged between 18 months to 6 years.

"Of course, these opportunities are only available to very few."
Zohra Bensemra, Reuters phtographer

A fist slams into a punch bag. Sparks flare from a saw as a punk carves a huge guitar from a block of stone. A female climber dangles precariously from a cliff.

Welcome to Pakistan, a country of 180 million people whose residents are as varied as they come. Among them are millionaires and beggars, child brides and female executives, the Taliban and an ultra-chic international jet set.

Many Pakistanis feel angry that headlines about their beloved nation are dominated by violence and extremism, saying that a number of troublemakers has been allowed to define their country’s image.

Everyone has heard of Malala, the schoolgirl activist shot by the Taliban, but few outside the country know about the exploding private education sector. The private Beaconhouse School System, for example, has established around 150 schools across the country.

People are familiar with images of burning American flags but beyond the photo frame, in the newly-built gated community of Bahria Town, stands a new Classic Rock café likely to be home to latte-sipping Twitterati, not far from a luxury cinema and American-style houses.

In the two years I’ve lived in Pakistan, I’ve covered plenty of stories about the Taliban, poverty, honour killings and violence – an important part of the country’s story and one that cannot be ignored.

But it’s not the only story. I’ve also listened to a rock band; met a hardcore woman climber; taken tea with a Porsche-driving, parrot-loving female executive; gone to a Pilates class and made friends with passionate and funny people just getting on with their lives.

Almost all the women I photographed studied abroad and their degrees come from some of the world’s top universities. But instead of staying abroad, they came home to their families, businesses and country.

“I’m lucky,” said Aleena Raza, who went to finishing school in Switzerland and loves high-end fashion. “I don’t want to go abroad. We need to build our country.”

Of course, these opportunities are only available to very few. Life for most Pakistanis remains a struggle, and a foreign degree and the opportunities it confers are an impossible dream.

Many of the country’s citizens remain mired in poverty or threatened by violence. In North Waziristan, a region where the army recently started an offensive against the Taliban, the female literacy rate is two percent.

But even in Pakistan’s most remote and dangerous regions, things are slowly changing. Nazia Parveen, a 23-year-old rock climber, comes from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), a border region near Afghanistan. She is studying defence and diplomatic studies and dreams of training other women from her area to climb, she said.

“I want to change the image of women in FATA. I took the sport as a challenge to show the world that nothing is impossible for a woman from the tribal areas if she has a goal in mind,” she said.