An Islamabad chaiwala, or tea seller, has become Pakistan’s blue-eyed boy, with people on social media calling him Pak’s “nuclear weapon”

NEW DELHI: An Islamabad chaiwala, or tea seller, has become Pakistan’s blue-eyed boy, with people on social media calling him Pak’s “nuclear weapon” who could be unleashed for “surgical strikes on Indian girls.”

This picture was taken by a photographer called Javeria, or ‘Jiah,’ Ali, who posted the photo on her Instagram handle after which it went viral on social media platforms. Ali told The International Business Times (IBT) that she found him in the Itwar Bazaar area of Islamabad during a photo-walk she participated in a few months ago.

“I took his picture during a photowalk I attended a few months back, but shared the post recently on Instagram and someone shared it on other social media platform after which it went viral,” Jiah said.

The photo became the top trend on Twitter in Pakistan late yesterday with the hashtag #ChaiWala.

Twitterati in India and Pakistan retweeted the photo with amusing, inoffensive comments, which alluded to India-Pakistan tensions that are running high lately, after last month’s Uri terror attack and after India’s retaliatory surgical strikes in Pakistan.

IBT asked Javeria if she expected the photograph will be such a sensation.

“Nope, not in a million years. I keep sharing different pictures on Instagram, but I guess the ladies really liked him,” she told the publication.

Twitterati in India and Pakistan retweeted the photo with amusing, inoffensive comments, which alluded to India-Pakistan tensions that are running high lately, after last month’s Uri terror attack and after India’s retaliatory surgical strikes in Pakistan.

Some even suggested the chaiwala could become the brand ambassador for Pakistan in the face of its increasing international isolation due to its government’s inaction in cracking down on terror.

Javeria, the photographer, told IBT, she hoped to bump into the chaiwala again.

“I am still trying to find him. I saw him at the Sunday market a few months back, so will have to wait for the Sunday market again to meet him. Just hope to meet him,” she told the publication.

Bureau Report