EDITOR’S NOTE: Aurora Sentinel reporter Quincy Snowdon traveled on an exchange visit organized by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) as part of a program funded by the U.S. State Department. He reported regularly during his adventure.
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN | There seems to be a myth lingering around Western thought that if a person from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, South America or Africa — anywhere outside of North America, Australia or Europe, really — has the chance to emigrate, it’s not so much a choice as it is an obligation.
Because, you know, who wouldn’t want to toil through the American system of 9-to-5s, cul-de-sacs and Kiawanis Clubs?
Plenty. And a lot of them are living here in Pakistan.
I’ve met dozens of folks on this trip who have not only expressed an optimism about the future of their native country, but a responsibility to live, work and thrive here in an effort to bring that attitude to fruition. And it’s not some crooked, wooden sense of patriotism — the tones and attitudes come across as genuinely hopeful; positive outlooks from potential agents of change.
One of those agents is Imran Khalid, a research fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad, who made the decision to raise his family in Pakistan after spending some 18 years getting an education and working across the U.S.
“The impression that anyone who gets a chance … runs away from this country — that’s not correct,” he said.
Khalid, who went to Virginia Tech University for his undergraduate degree and then studied in Syracuse, N.Y., with the Fullbright program, said he wanted to give his kids the chance to learn about their heritage first-hand and allow them to decide where to put down roots later in life.
“I wanted to come back because I’ve got family and I wanted to show my kids their roots,” he said. “It’s very important that each generation knows where they’re coming from … so they can understand what the opportunities (and) what the problems are. They could have grown up in the West — and there are problems and opportunities in the West as well — but they can learn from the issues here and then they can make up their own minds.”
Khalid added that, essentially, the past is past. And while it’s important to be mindful of history, this is 2016, not 1971. (That was when the country waged a civil war that resulted in the creation of what is now Bangladesh.)
“What happened in ‘71, you know, we had nothing to do with it,” he said. “But, you know, now’s our chance to try to make a little bit of a difference.”
And Khalid certainly isn’t alone. Just in the SDPI office, Executive Director Abid Qaiyum Suleri — who holds a Canadian passport and received his education in the U.K. — echoed Khalid’s thoughts. Another colleague, Moazzam Bhatti, has a wife and kids in Italy, but said that the job prospects, and in many ways the larger economy, are better in Pakistan.
Abid pointed to four indicators that have encouraged him to stay in his native land: A massive youth population — about 60 percent of the country’s population is under 30 years old — a growing democratic voice box on social media, a functioning democracy and a swelling, powerful middle class.
“These things, for me, are the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
Mosharraf Zaidi, leader of Islamabad-based nonprofit organization Alif Ailaan, said that part of what brought him to Pakistan after a childhood in Canada and receiving an education at several Western institutions was being, simply and eloquently, “irretrievably in love with the people of this country.”
It’s fair to criticize this trend by claiming that it’s a poorly calibrated sample of the academic elite. That may, in part, be true, but the idea that the country is retaining a new crop of leaders is a positive trend for people like Syed Hassan Akbar, director of programs at the Jinnah Institute in Islamabad. Akbar, who came back to Pakistan after graduating from Columbia University, said that all of his friends returned to the country after graduating from western institutions in the early and mid-00s. However, hesitation to return grew after a tumultuous period in 2006.
But Akbar said more sanguine thoughts on the nation’s future have since reemerged, and he’s encouraged by the nation’s democratic progress amid turmoil in neighboring states.
“Unlike Iraq, unlike Syria, unlike Yemen, our cities are still standing,” Akbar said. “They’re not rubble … we’re doing some things right.”
Despite those rosy quotations, there is no dearth of actors willing to openly and caustically rag on the country’s innumerable troubles. A sample: Some 24 million Pakistani children are out of school, about 40 percent of the country’s kids are experiencing some sort of stunted growth — meaning that they’re not growing as quickly as they should — and the nation is one of the most vulnerable to climate change, as evidenced by the cataclysmic floods and earthquakes that have killed thousands and caused billions of dollars of damages. In the country’s largest city, Karachi, the power regularly zaps out, there’s no public transportation to support nearly 23 million people, and the mayor is in prison. Yeah.
But it’s those other subtle changes, and the ability to actually make a difference — instead of slashing through dumpsters of red tape — that are keeping people close.
“I think an hour’s effort here goes further and helps more people than a year’s work in Canada,” Zaidi said.
Khalid echoed.
“It’s our turn now to make an impact,” he said.
Previous Pakistan blog posts:
AURORA TO PAKISTAN: 6 quotes on the debate…from Pakistanis
AURORA TO PAKISTAN: A picture’s worth a discouraging word
AURORA TO PAKISTAN: Elusive peace in Pakistan puts Aurora in perspective
AURORA TO PAKISTAN: Kashmir collides with life all over India and Pakistan
AURORA TO PAKISTAN: Life in a country where fortresses, risk, newspapers and beauty abound
AURORA TO PAKISTAN: Saturday — Who pays for reporters from Aurora and Pakistan to trade places
AURORA TO PAKISTAN: A reporter’s close look at a complex nation
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Aurora Sentinel reporter Quincy Snowdon, originally from Connecticut, ditched the East Coast about six years ago for Colorado’s thinner air and higher mountains. He’s worked at the Aurora Sentinel in Aurora for two years and something like 68 days (but who’s counting?). He spends most of his days writing about spats on the local board of education and the city’s art scene, but he’s also been known to write about crime, food and the occasional business opening. His likes include climbing up Front Range rock piles, Barilla pasta and getting lost in YouTube worm holes — usually pertaining to bloopers from seasons 3-5 of the American sitcom The Office. His dislikes include deadlines, people who refuse to provide their last names and spotty WiFi connections.