The Alliance Francaise, the French Cultural Centre, will hold an exhibition of Afghan and Turkish tribal kilims (rugs) at its premises on Thursday evening. The rugs are fascinating stuff woven in natural dyes and colours made from vegetable and fruit extracts.
The wool used in the making of these kilims is handspun at Ghazni in Afghanistan. The Pakistan rugs are also woven in the NWFP as well as in the Northern Areas, including Kalash region and are very popular. Two types of woven rugs are popular in Pakistan, the Morris and the Persian style, done with quality and finesse, and made out of the finest quality wool. Pakistan is also famous for hand-knotted Persian and oriental carpets.
Foreigners take a lot of interest in the romance involving the journey of these rugs into Pakistan, since a number of tribal people roam from village to village acquiring the rugs and later selling them in towns. Some of these rugs may date even to a century. The interest is also focused on cross-border rugs trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as in the tribal areas.