Shabqadar comes alive at night during Ramazan

Social activities follow peace to the volatile area but locals remain wary

SHABQADAR: It is close to midnight and a cool wind blows through the Shabqadar bazaar. After a hot day, a few locals are relaxing at a roadside cafe, engrossed in a conversation about the latest twist in the Panama Papers saga.

Till a few years ago, such a sight would not have been possible.

The terrorism-struck-area barely saw any cars plying the roads at night, let alone roadside cafes bustling with locals. But with peace returning to the once volatile region, coupled with the unusually warm summer and the added factor of Ramazan, more and more locals are heading to roadside cafes during the cool of the night to have some delicious food and some steaming conversation.



Social, in this society, has returned.

Azmat Khan, a tour operator, sits cross-legged at a traditional roadside cafe in the main Shabqadar bazaar. Across from him sit his friends Irfanullah and Sajjad Orakzai. Over some cold drinks and ice cream, the conversation turns political.

The hubbub from the cafes is punctuated by howls of the wind or a few stray dogs.

This hour a few years ago, the spot where they sat bore a deserted. The market around them had closed down after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan attacked it, twice, killing some of the shopkeepers and store owners.

The attacks, locals say, were motivated after rivals of the slain shopkeepers had approached the militants seeking ‘justice’.

As a result of the attacks, the market remained closed for around a year.



But that is a past locals are only too glad to put behind them.

“This [cafe] is among a dozen such small cafés which have been set up during Ramazan along the road from Shabqadar bazaar to Michni and along the Peshawar road,” Azmat tells The Express Tribune. “Locals visit these spots after offering their Isha and taraveeh prayers for some enjoyment and to eat,” the tour operator adds.

Dr Fazal Malik was sitting at another such café, enjoying some traditional barbequed chicken tikkas and karahi with his friend.

“Ramazan is when you only have the option of eating late at night. You can’t share a meal during the day due to the day fast, having a lot of cold drinks immediately after iftar means you do not eat much then, and then there is not much time to eat during sehri,” Dr Malik said, adding that he had his friends regularly visit the roadside hotels to have a proper meal.

Some shopkeepers, though, still remember the old days when terror held sway over them and they kept their stores closed for a year. While they remain wary, they say the government has now encouraged the public to resume their normal lives and to go out at night.



Ehsanullah, who runs a roadside superstore near the market said that not a lot of people visit his store during the day owing to the heat and Ramazan. Such customers, he says, now visit him after night falls and hence he has to stay open till later than usual. With Eidul Fitr drawing close, he added that the number of customers visiting his store at night had increased.

But business is not the only thing booming at night in the once volatile Shabqadar.

Ehsanullah pointed out that youngsters were participating in night football tournaments at Shabqadar’s main park. Others, fuelled by the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy tournament, were playing cricket. Badminton, and old night favourite, too had made a return.

Local teams flock to the cafes and his store after their matches for refreshments.

Noting that there were no significant acts of violence in Ramazan so far, Ehsanullah felt that the district police and law enforcement agencies should be more proactive through regular patrolling to ensure durable peace in the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2017.