Norwegians with Pakistani background

Pakistani Norwegian

Hadia Tajik Abid Raja, Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen
Total population
39,134 0.8% of the Norwegian population
Regions with significant populations
Oslo, Lørenskog, Skedsmo, Drammen, Moss, Rælingen, Nittedal
Languages
Norwegian, English, Urdu, Pakistani Regional dialects
Religion
Islam
Related ethnic groups
Overseas Pakistani

Pakistani Norwegians are Norwegians of Pakistani descent. First generation Pakistani Norwegians, who migrate from Pakistan, are distinguished from the mainstream in several demographic aspects, while second generation Pakistani Norwegians, who are born in Norway, are well-established in Norway and have gone on to become professionals and politicians. Pakistani Norwegians have strong presence in higher education, media, and politics.

History in Norway

The initial first generation Pakistani Norwegians arrived in Norway as guest workers during the 1970s, under Norway's then-liberal immigration scheme which allowed for unskilled "guest workers" to temporarily settle in Norway.^[1] Most of these immigrants were young men that came from areas surrounding the town of Kharian, in Pakistan's Punjab province, though later waves included a high number of workers from Lahore, Pakistan's second largest city.^[2] The law was later amended to allow for already arrived guest workers to permanently settle in Norway. Following stricter immigration laws passed in 1976, Pakistan immigration to Norway shifted from the arrival of new immigrants, to family reunifications, in which Pakistani Norwegians could apply for their close relatives and/or spouses to immigrate to Norway.

Integrating into Norwegian society

The first generation Pakistani Norwegians, who migrate from Pakistan, often retain their traditional Pakistani views. Second generation Pakistani Norwegians who are born in Norway tend to be completely Norwegian in attitudes and practice.^[3]

Lifestyle

First generation Norwegian-Pakistani women, born and raised in Pakistan, are overrepresented among young married couples. According to Statistics Norway 54% of first generation Pakistani-Norwegian women in the 20-24 age group are married. However, for second generation Pakistani-Norwegian women the figure is 19%. The national average is 7%.^[4]

Children of Pakistani immigrants sometimes struggle when trying to be loyal to both their family's traditional Islamic culture and the one of liberal Scandinavia, although there is a strong tendency to favour Norwegian traditions over Pakistani ones, or even combining the two into a sort of creole culture. Second generation Pakistani Norwegians are sometimes told that they are different from Norwegians, although they feel at home only in Norway, while at home they may also be pressured by their parents to not become "too Norwegian."^[2]

In spite of the aforementioned issues, the Pakistani Norwegian community as a whole is generally considered to be well-integrated into Norwegian culture. Riffat Bashir, Imam of Oslo's largest mosque often invites Norwegian church leaders and non-Muslim citizens to his mosque in order to partake in inter-faith and inter-ethnic dialogue.^[1]

Politics

The Pakistani Norwegian community does not vote as a bloc for any particular party in Norway. Rather, there is a diversity of political beliefs, demonstrated by support for a varety of parties. Many Pakistani Norwegian politicians have been successful in their political campaigns, such as Akhtar Chaudhry, a Member of the current Stortinget (Norway's Parliament) for the Sosialistisk Venstreparti ("Socialist Left Party") who migrated to Norway from Pakistan in 1982 and was the former head of the Pakistan Norwegian Welfare Organization.

Afshan Rafiq is a former member of the Stortinget for the Høyre (Conservative Party of Norway). She still remains a Deputy Representative for the party.

Aamir J. Sheikh is a member the Oslo city council for Høyre and husband of Norway's first member of the Stortinget with minority background, Afshan Rafiq.

Many Pakistani Norwegians are also involved in lower-level politics as part of regional councils and city councils. Abid Raja, formerly a scholar at Wadham College at the University of Oxford won a seat for the Akershus County council as a member of the Liberal Party.

Norwegian politicians actively engage themselves with Pakistani Norwegian to canvass votes. Rather surprisingly, Carl Hagen, head of the anti-immigration Fremskrittspartiet("Progress Party") even attended Pakistan Independence Day celebrations in Oslo to court the Pakistani Norwegian vote.^[5] Kristin Halvorsen, the leader of Norway's left-of-centre Socialist Left Party, went to Pakistan in 2005 to court the votes of Norwegian citizens residing in Pakistan.^[5] Many other Norwegian politicians have courted the Pakistani Norwegian vote in Norway by attending cultural functions, such as the right-of-centre Christian Democrat KRF party.

Media

Mah-Rukh Ali is the first non-white news anchor for Norway's state broadcasting network, the NRK - although another Pakistani Norwegian, Noman Mubashir, is the first non-white personality on Norwegian TV and hosted the multi-ethnic programme, Migrapolis, before hosting a Saturday night entertainment show. Zahid Ali, another Pakistani Norwegian, joined the ranks of minorities on Norwegian television by participating in the comedy program Rikets Røst on TV2.

Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen is a Pakistani Norwegian who directed three movies, including Izzat, a story which follows Wasim and his youth gang years in the 1980s to his young adult years in the 1990s. The film is set in Oslo and deals with the double standards in a tough Pakistani Norwegian gang environment. It relates directly to the difficulty of being raised as a Muslim immigrant in western countries. The word Izzat means honour in Urdu. A number of Pakistani Norwegians were featured in this film, and a small portion was filmed in Lahore, Pakistan.

Education

Almost 10% of the medical students in Oslo are of Pakistani heritage.^[6] The figure is significant as Pakistani Norwegians only constitute 3.67% of Oslo's population. The proportion of Pakistani Norwegians, born and raised in Norway, in higher education at university level is higher than the Norwegian national average.^[7] Amongst Pakistani Norwegians born and raised in Pakistan the share is 17%, the same as the average for Norwegian immigrants in general.^[8]

Internationally renowned researchers are, among others, Farrukh Abbas Chaudhry (medicine) ^[9][10] and Shah Nawaz (petroleum chemistry),^[11][12] and the physicist Kalbe Razi Naqvi.^[13]

Notable Pakistani Norwegians

• Abid Raja
• Adil Khan
• Kalbe Razi Naqvi
• Afshan Rafiq
• Aamir J. Sheikh
• Akhtar Chaudhry
• Athar Ali
• Deeyah
• Hadia Tajik
• Khalid Mahmood
• Mah-Rukh Ali
• Noman Mubashir
• Shabana Rehman
• Mohammad Usman Rana
• Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen
• Zahid Ali

See also

• Overseas Pakistani
• Islam in Norway
• Demographics of Norway
• Norway-Pakistan relations
• Immigration to Norway

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3676176.stm
2. ^ ^{a b} http://www.norway.org/News/archive/2000/2000101ethnic.htm
3. ^ http://www.ssb.no/emner/02/rapp_200729/main.html Kristin Henriksen. Fakta om 18 innvandrergrupper i Norge. Statistisk Sentralbyrå, 2007. ISBN 978-82-537-7221-9, 50
4. ^ "Dobbelt så mange innvandrere på ti år" (Google translation). Aftenposten. 31 December 2009. Accessed 11 July 2011.
5. ^ ^{a b} http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/143
6. ^ Dagens Medisin: - Studenter med holdninger
7. ^ Aftenposten: Ali inntar akademia
8. ^ Integrerings- og mangfoldsdirektoratet: Kunnskapsbasen ([http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=no&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdi.no%2Fno%2FKunnskapsbasen%2FInnholdstyper%2FRapporter%2F2005%2FInnvandrere-i-norske-kommuner%2F12%2F9%2F Google translation)
9. ^ Aftenposten: Fikk gull - og kongevisitt
10. ^ The Chaudhry group at the Biotechnology Centre of Oslo
11. ^ E24: Norskpakistansk forsker på eksklusiv lederliste
12. ^ The Europe 500: Leaders for the New Century (2005)
13. ^ Store norske leksikon: Kalbe Razi Naqvi

• The Pakistani Norwegians

External links

• The Pakistani Norwegians
• Norway: Pakistanis – the largest immigrant groupPDF (112 KiB)
• Black-Haired Norwegians: Pakistani Women and Their Daughters
• From Exclusion to Inclusion: the Pakistani Community in Norway
• Oslo's trendy Pakistani hotspot
• Changes in Food Habits among Pakistani Immigrant Women in Oslo, Norway
• Iron deficiency among pregnant Pakistanis in Norway