The Pakistani art of truck decoration

The Pakistani art of truck decoration
Abdul Rauf takes a look at his ornately decorated truck before it hits the road in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. AP/B.K. Bangash
The Pakistani art of truck decoration
Abdul Rauf takes a look at his ornately decorated truck before it hits the road in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. AP/B.K. Bangash

The Pakistani art of truck decoration

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In Pakistan, shipping is big business. New paved highways offer a fast track to the north and Afghanistan. Goods arrive at the port of Karachi and travel as far as U.S. troops based in Afghanistan or newly rich Central-Asian republics farther north. As the shipping industry grows, trucking becomes an important part of the country’s economic engine. But Pakistani cargo shipping trucks – decorated with bright colors, lines from Urdu poetry, and life sized paintings of politicians – look nothing like trucks you see on American highways. The World Vision Report’s Jessica Partnow takes us to Karachi, the heart of Pakistan’s one-of-a-kind truck decorating business.