ISLAMABAD: They pollute the roads andchug along at a snail´s pace, but to their Pakistani owners therickety trucks are moving pieces of art, commanding attentionwith garish portraits of flowers, Islamic art, and snow-cappedHimalayan peaks.
South Asian "truck art" has become a global phenomenon,inspiring gallery exhibitions abroad and prompting stores inposh London neighbourhoods to sell flamboyant miniature pieces.
Yet closer to home some people sneer and refuse to call it"art".
For the drivers, the designs that turn decades-old vehiclesinto moving murals are often about local pride.
Picking theright colour or animal portrait is tougher than the countlesshours spent on the road.
Truck driver Haji Ali Bahadur, who hails from the tribalbelt bordering Afghanistan, said green and yellow have been hiscolours of choice during 40 years behind the wheel.
"We, the drivers of Khyber, Mohmand and other tribal regionslike flowers on the edge of the vehicles," he said.
"The peopleof Swat, South Waziristan and Kashmir region like portraits ofmountains and different wild animals.
"Truck art has become one of Pakistan´s best known culturalexports and offshoot toy and furniture industries have beenspawned closer to home.
With Pakistan´s economy picking up speed and new roadsopening up trade routes to China, truck art may soon find newadmirers abroad.