Fruits of accidental fortune

From villages along the road in Chaman, Balochistan, poor labour turned shrewd oil prospectors are the first to arrive at oil tanker spills. Nato oil tankers tipping over frequently in folds along the road have put the locals wise to the fruits of accidental fortune in the absence of opportunity and employment. They come in droves. And when they run out of gallons to fill, they bring pots and pans. – Text and photos by Aurangzaib Khan and Matiullah Achakzai.

Matiullah Achakzai is journalist based in Chaman. Aurangzaib Khan is a senior award-winning journalist based in Peshawar and has also worked extensively in the development and uplift sector in KP and FATA.

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AM Khan

Jul 04, 2011 06:23pm

A "gallon" is NOT a container! It's only a unit of measurement.

Recommend 0

Armughan

Jul 04, 2011 07:10pm

Excellent! With all the captions it is not less then a video documentary.

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A. S

Jul 04, 2011 08:03pm

By stealing and theft and other immoral activity (and its eventual glorification) you are promoting impiety amongst the people and sealing their fate. If the radicals do not end then it would be Pakistan that would suffer and other nations would have an excuse to invade the lands.

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lawgrade

Jul 04, 2011 08:14pm

Interesting but you didn't say a word about environmental damage from these spills. Petroleum products are carcinogens in addition to being highly flammable, polluting the air and ground water.

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GDG

Jul 05, 2011 12:03am

Re: write up on the first photo, you say"....a landscape of BIBLICAL mud walled houses..." but when I saw the evocative photo my mind went back 4000 years but nearer home. Was this how Mohenjo Daro, Harappa and other Indus Valley cities looked like in their heyday? The photo of Chaman town is absolutely gorgeous and the landscape of Baluchistan looks out-of -this- world beautiful. Thanks to M/s Achakzai & Khan for a wonderful photo-essay. More on Baluchistan......please?

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BRR

Jul 05, 2011 12:11am

Rather sad. Good set of pictures that tells a tale of survival, subsistence living, and hopeless nature of life in the tribal societies. Exploiting an unexpected geo-political bonanza is a temporary relief that is not sustainable. Education and economic development seem miles away.

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Linda

Jul 05, 2011 11:42am

Tell it the people who use "Gallons" to haul water or petrol and every vehicle is called "motor"!!

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Sajid Khan

Jul 05, 2011 03:04pm

[Quote: What if someone lit a cigarette or a match?] I would advise the author to stand in a pool of Gasoline and I'll stand in a pool of Diesel, we both will ignite match the same time, lets see who catches the fire. Point is, these are Diesel Tankers and won't lit up even if you show it a match!

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Ateeq Khaliq

Jul 06, 2011 01:13pm

Awesome Photography... Its like story woven in pictures.Thanks for bringing this facts, it more or less looks like Pre- 1947. God give them Wisdom.

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Shahbaz

Jul 08, 2011 04:04am

This is the best piece of photo-journalism I have seen in a long time. Brilliant narrative as well.

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