Pakistani Americans

While the American missions set out to go to the moon, one of the Apollo commanders said something very wise, which was that we went to the moon to discover the moon but we actually discovered the earth. It was the looking back at earth from that distance as the lonely pale blue dot, which convinced humanity to understand how beautiful and precious, yet, lonely our planet was out in the wilderness of space. And that that pale blue dot was the only place in space, which humanity called home.

In the years following the 9/11 attacks and especially after Bin Laden was found in Pakistan, the country’s image was badly tarnished. Many Pakistanis had to face image problems. And many people already talked about it. What almost never gets discussed is the greatness in the reputation of the Pakistani people in America. Most Pakistani people are businessmen. They are in various fields, chiefly among them are the vast network of gas stations across America. They are in the business of insurance, restaurants, general suppliers, healthcare, and so forth. Even when Pakistanis are doctors, they end up owning their own mini hospitals. The urge to be one’s own boss is the driver behind this.

Specifically because of being successful and responsible businessmen, the various industries take them more seriously than even the American born white and black people. If a Pakistani American, for example, contacts a bank for obtaining a loan for building up a gas station, the bank takes him very seriously and treats him as a serious candidate who wouldn’t waste the bank’s time and money. The banks know from past experience with other Pakistani business owners that these people are responsible with their finances and business operations and would pay back the debt on time. In a nutshell, the banks don’t hesitate writing hefty loan checks to us Pakistani Americans.

If a Pakistani American businessman contacts a gasoline brand for signing a contract for the sale of their gasoline out of his gas station, the oil company jumps at such an opportunity because they also know that a gas station owner is almost never a white or black or a Hispanic man and is almost always a Pakistani or an Indian man. A Pakistani American never closes shop even when it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, Ramadan or Eid. This supremely pro-business approach by Pakistani Americans is very well known to the gasoline industry where a manager or the salesman called fuel jobber is almost always a white person.

The point that I am trying to make is that almost everyone repeats that America is the land of opportunities and it surely is but what almost nobody talks about is that opportunities are for those who look for them and are in pursuit of them. I and many like myself came to America looking for such opportunities and while we did find them, we also found more about Pakistan than about America. Because the same people who couldn’t even land a job in Pakistan became millionaires, many times over, not because we worked harder here, and not only because America provided opportunities but because Pakistanis are a talented lot. America is home to people from almost all countries. And immigrants from countless countries who made America their home find employment in businesses owned and run by Pakistanis. Arabs, Hispanics, Indians, Americans, Africans, Israelis, and so forth work as employees of Pakistani businessmen. Yes, the same Israelis and Arabs who come from a lot of wealth, privilege, and American support in their respective countries end up working for the same Pakistanis who came from a Pakistan where 15 hour load-shedding happened and where these Pakistani Americans couldn’t even find a single job.

Being in America didn’t just teach me about how Pakistan didn’t provide the same level-playing field as America provides but also that Pakistanis are perhaps more talented and aggressive in the pursuit of success than many people around the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 29^th, 2024.

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