The battle for Pakistan’s survival is being fought right here, on these very catwalks, reports Tim Bale. —AFP

London Extra reports from Pakistan

By Tim Bale (reporting from Karachi and Lahore for the London Extra)

I boarded an Emirates Airline plane from Dubai to fly to the Pakistani city of Karachi. It was my first visit to Pakistan where I was assigned by this newspaper (The London Extra) to cover two cultural events in the country: A books festival in Karachi and a fashion show in Lahore.

The majority of the passengers on the plane were Pakistanis. The women were veiled, men had beards, children were crying, and they were all speaking in Pakistan’s national language, Urdu, that is a fusion of classical and contemporary Arabic, bits of Hindi, colonial Portuguese and modern-day Swahili.

Don't miss: At the Karachi literature festival, books really are a matter of life and death

Just as we were about to land in Karachi, I saw from my window seat, something fly in the opposite direction at great speed. Our cameraman, Rod Sterling, believed it was a missile of some kind, but a Pakistani passenger insisted it was just an eagle.

Planes landing at Pakistani airports are often targeted by missiles either fired by religious extremists hiding in the toilets of the airports; or by target killers from the rooftops of the mud huts that are lined across the runways of Pakistani airports; or by groups of men firing missiles to celebrate a wedding or the birth of a healthy baby camel.