Deadly traffic: the fuel drivers caught up in Pakistan-Iran border tensions

As the two countries crack down on smuggling, those forced to cross the border for survival' face a perilous journey

Karim Jan* spent the festival of Eid al-Fitr sitting in the scorching May sun as he had spent the previous five days, waiting in a long queue of traffic to get into Iran. Like hundreds of other drivers, Jan came to this desolate town of Mand, on the Pakistan border with Iran, from across Balochistan.

As they waited, some drivers slept in their Iranian pickup trucks , known as Zamyads, while others slept out under the open sky.