Meet the man who wants to be Pakistan’s first professional surfer… and his friends

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TRANSCRIPT
Australia’s vibrant traditional beach culture makes surfing a longtime hobby for many Australians.
In many other parts of the world, even with significant exposure to ocean or water, it’s a different story.
These are the waves heard on the beaches of Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi.
It’s located on Pakistan’s southern tip, right on the Arabian Sea, in a country with around 1,000 kilometres of coastline.
Sounds promising… but these aren’t exactly what you’d call prime surfing conditions a lot of the time.
The waves are often either small and messy, or whipped up by dangerous cyclone swells.
So, whilst reasonably nearby countries like Sri Lanka and the Maldives are global surfing hotspots, Pakistan isn’t.
However, a group of local young men are looking to change that …even just a little.
 “We learn by ourselves, yeah, we have no coach, no anything. We just learn by seeing some videos, watching videos, of our favourite surfers, like, you know, professional surfers. I just learn from them.”
That’s 21-year-old Attiq Ur Rehman.
He’s part of a poor coastal community called Bulleji that usually makes a meagre living through fishing, or acting as lifeguards, as Attiq once did, for more wealthy citizens when they choose to enjoy a day at the beach.
His father, Mohammad, makes around 150 dollars a month through fishing… with which he has to feed a family of ten.
He wants Attiq to do the same thing so he can get married and support a family of his own.
Attiq has loftier ambitions, though.
Since the age of nine, he’s wanted to be Pakistan’s first-ever professional surfer.
He’s founded a community that calls itself the Surfers of Bulleji.
They now number about fifty people, some as young as eight, and they’ve recently gone viral on social media.
One of Attiq’s group is 24-year-old fisherman Mujahid Baloch.
He says, like Attiq, he’s a self-taught surfing enthusiast.
Urdu, then translated “Here in this village, no one has taught anyone swimming or surfing. Everyone is teaching themselves. I watched someone who was older than me surfing, and I learned the skill and told others this is the way to surf.”
The group say they idolise the American surfer Kelly Slater, and wish to match his skill.
They certainly can’t match his equipment right now.
As one might imagine, surfboards are not exactly in plentiful supply around here.
Mujahid says even a piece of foam that was found at sea was turned into a surfboard by the group.
He says they sometimes find discarded surfboards in large containers of junk brought to Pakistan from around the world, which they buy and repair using basic materials like glue and resin.
Attiq says the local lack of knowledge of surfing sometimes borders on the comical.
“For me it is impossible to get these boards because there are no shops, equipment. Actually, no one knows what is this, that’s the question. No one knows what is this. Many people say: ‘What are you doing guys? This is a skateboard?'”
The group shares about 25 surfboards between them, which Mujahid says they have to make last quite a while.
Urdu, then translated “If a board breaks, we will repair it. We will repair whether it is broken from the middle or side. Because we don’t have surfboards here.”
It doesn’t stop Attiq, Mujahid, and their Bulleji friends from dreaming big.
Attiq admits they wouldn’t mind some help.
 “We need a professional trainer. As a coach, they come here and train us. Maybe they will like our surfing and surfing skills. We need more; we need more learn to about the surfing. Yeah, we want to go to the international level like Olympics, like Asian champions, like international champions.”
The International Surfing Association has 116 member nations.
War-torn Ukraine and landlocked Switzerland are amongst them…but Pakistan isn’t yet.
However that’s not not doing to stop the dreams of Attiq and his friends.
“Hopefully our boys, the Surfers of Bulleji, community guys, get good medals and get good achievements for their surfing.”