Percentage wise Pakistan might not be a favorite target for immigrants since Pakistan is a third world country itself, but in terms of sheer numbers Pakistan might have more immigrants than all the Scandinavian countries put together.
According to various websites I read online, there are about three million Bangladeshi immigrants, three to four million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. A few million all together from other South Asian countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka, Burma and others.
The numbers of these immigrants is one alarming thing to start with. For a country like Pakistan that is already overpopulated, the presence of every immigrant makes a difference weather in the consumption of resources or taking up jobs that could have gone to locals instead.
The crime and other illegal activities many of them engage in only adds more to our long list of problems.
Many of these immigrants have an imaginary superiority complex towards Pakistan and it's people which feeds false ideas into the minds of our youth.
These ideas are misleading and damaging for our youth and people. It is often aided by Pakistan's self-haters which have a strong presence in the media.
As an example I was talking on the phone to one of our housekeepers in Pakistan who is Bangladeshi and we discussed the overpopulation crisis faced by Pakistan and the third world and that Bangladesh has managed to slow down it's population explosion.
He proudly proclaimed how much "better" education is in Bangladesh than in Pakistan and occasionally I remember hearing from him how much more advanced Bangladesh is than Pakistan.
I asked him why then Bangladeshi students come to Pakistani universities to study if education in Bangladesh is much better?
Another question I had that I did not ask him was why was he in Pakistan in the first place if Bangladesh is much superior? I have no enmity towards the people of Bangladesh, but those of them think of their country is more advanced than Pakistan should answer why is it so many Bangladeshis smuggle themselves into Pakistan?
Even this housekeeper of mine has paid bribes to Pakistani immigration officials just to retain his Pakistani citizenship and to prevent himself from deportation.
But why? When according to him Bangladesh is a country with better education facilities; should he not be more than happy to live in Bangladesh?
Shouldn't Pakistanis be smuggling themselves into Bangladesh or going to Bangladeshi universities?
It doesn't just end there with Bangladeshis. Afghan immigrants have been another crisis in Pakistan.
Recently I also had a conversation with another Bangladeshi and he seemed terribly proud that his country is not developing nuclear weapons and kept hinting negativity towards Pakistan for enhancing it's nuclear program while emphasizing Bangladesh as a politically more stable country. He just kept trying to project his country as something "superior" to Pakistan.
Afghani hatred towards Pakistan cannot be questioned. Often on Internet blogs, news articles and other forms of media, Afghans don't hesitate to attack Pakistan and it's people.
Many speak of Afghanistan's "greatness" and Pakistan being the scum of the Earth and the cause for all their problems. All of this when there are millions of Afghanis in Pakistan, getting shelter, committing crimes, stealing and monopolizing jobs from locals.
Self-hatred is another disease many Pakistanis suffer from and is often incited by our confusing Muhajir upper class and spread onto everyone else. They teach the rest of Pakistanis to live in admiration for these countries who's citizens come running to Pakistan like beggars and abuse our hospitality.
Even when Bangladesh is the world's most densely populated country or when their people come to immigrate and/or study in Pakistan.
Even when Afghanistan is the world's largest producer and exporter of heroine while Pakistan is one of the world's largest manufacturer and exporter of surgical instruments for hospitals worldwide, including Europe.
Even when these countries don't export anything technologically sophisticated compared to Pakistan such as components for computers or airplanes.
Our self-hating fifth columnists also promote the countries of these immigrants as "shinning paradises" such as Nepal, Bangladesh or India (I am not sure that there are many Indian immigrants in Pakistan) when the condition of these country's citizens are far worse than the average Pakistani citizens.
Despite the negative side, there are also advantages that some immigrants bring with them for hiring over locals.
Amongst the most prosperous immigrants in Pakistan I find are the Sri Lankans and understandably many Pakistani families prefer to hire them as domestic workers over locals.
In my experience Sri Lankans are far better trained for their jobs as domestic workers than locals weather in caring for infants, elderly people or regular house chores.
They are also generally very professional in their jobs as the problem with locals is they take too many holidays when they are very much needed.
Most local domestic workers are from rural areas and usually have little or no experience in working as household servants.
The Sri Lankan immigrants also charge less for their services than local Pakistani domestic workers do.
So understandably immigrants do sometimes have a positive side to them. But despite Sri Lanka having a smaller population and better living standards than Pakistan, it does not change the fact that Pakistan still has better education and technology than Sri Lanka.
After all Sri Lanka and Bangladesh both purchase arms from Pakistan as well as send their students to our universities.
Why is it then our country is a dumping ground for immigrants from all over the region or their students come to study at our institutions or that while they export only agriculture and textile, we export both as well as sophisticated technology?
If these immigrants are so proud of their countries and pity ours, should they even be coming at all to our country?
Pakistanis need to ask if they would trade all what we have achieved since our independence, for what other South Asian countries have?
Should we trade Islamabad's greenery and well paved streets for India's slums and air polluted cities? Or for Afghanistan's rubble littered towns and cities?
Should we trade our successful technologies that we have achieved in computers, aviation, medicine and other sciences for Afghanistan's heroine production and Bacha Bazi?
Should not we Pakistanis be immigrating to the countries of these immigrants instead of them coming to ours?
Pakistan is by all means the most advanced country in South Asia and the fact that we don't appreciate how blessed we are over other countries in our region is one of our weaknesses.
If these immigrants think so highly of their countries and imaginary superiority, they should be moved back to enjoy this imaginary superiority their countries posses.
I too am in immigrant in a foreign country. My parent and I chose to move thinking it would be better, though we now realize our mistake but cannot move back to Pakistan due to difficulties in adjusting to life there.
Living in North America for almost ten years, I have the opinion there are certain things back in Pakistan which are better.
Youth violence in schools in Pakistan are nothing compared to North America in general. Teens don't carry knives and guns to schools in Pakistan.
Young people there are more obedient and respectful to an older authority figure.
People in Pakistan are also much kinder and friendlier. But despite all the positive things of Pakistan, I don't fail to recognize the better things of the country I live in.
I have been a good immigrant and now a good citizen. I have given more than two hundred hours of community service, including collecting donations for helping blind people. Despite that I was only required to serve forty hours to graduate from high school.
I have never broken the law and even helped the police in a crime that I was a witness to.
And I learned to develop more respect for the country I live in through no other than a fellow Pakistani nationalist who lives in the same city as me.
His values have also been to serve and respect the country you live in even if we feel for our beloved country Pakistan and try to help it in anyway we can.
The attitude of our immigrants has sadly been very different and it is time we took action against these immigrants who only add more to our overpopulation crisis and to our long list of problems.
Any step we take against those who despise our country and add to our problems is a step forward for Pakistan.
