Not surprisingly, Pakistan feels much more religious than India. But on the street, at least in Lahore, the latter appears to have triumphed.
Rooms come equipped with prayer mats. God is everywhere. Cliches about the warmth of Pakistani hospitality are true. But you can also encounter kindness among ordinary Pakistanis that has nothing to do with a culture of looking after your guests.
At the Pakistan International Airlines counter in Lahore, a young man helpfully suggests that i check my carry-on bag at the gate to avoid paying for excess baggage.
In the Indian imagination, particularly on the Hindu Right, Pakistan brings to mind only fanaticism and violence. But a visitor can experience it instead as a land of many small kindnesses. The Indian view of Pakistan is increasingly shaped by a kind of national hysteria, an inability to view the country dispassionately as a geographical space that happens to be inhabited by a kindred people whose ancestors were Indians.
In general, educated Pakistanis are less ignorant about India than their Indian counterparts are about Pakistan. They are alarmingly up-to-date on Bollywood gossip. But here too distortions abound. To use a single forefinger is considered extremely rude. Pointing: Pointing and gesturing at objects and people should use the whole hand or palm.
A single finger is considered rude. Winking: Winking has sexual connotations and should be avoided altogether. Smiling: Pakistanis tend to have quite a serious front and may not smile at strangers often. Other Considerations. Business Culture. Pakistanis in Australia. Sign up for free. Inclusion Program Join over organisations already creating a better workplace.
Download this Cultural Profile. Too busy to read it right now? They also reportedly own lucrative real estate holdings and have significant business interests in the Pakistani cities of Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta. It is important to acknowledge that the people of Afghanistan are the primary casualties of the conflict. But Pakistan could also suffer serious fallout from continued instability and increased violence in Afghanistan, including a significant influx of refugees and the resurgence of local militant groups energized by Taliban victories.
The Pakistani Taliban, who are loosely allied with the Afghan Taliban, orchestrated a deadly countrywide terrorist campaign in Pakistan between and The leaders of the Pakistani Taliban escaped to Afghanistan after the Pakistani military launched a major offensive against them in While the Pakistani generals might expect the Afghan Taliban to rein in their Pakistani counterparts, there is little evidence to suggest they are in a hurry to oblige.
In recent months, the Pakistani Taliban has ramped up violence against both political opponents and Pakistani security forces, while also targeting Chinese interests in Pakistan. A deadly July bomb attack killed at least thirteen people, including nine Chinese nationals working on a hydropower project under the multi-billion dollar surge of Chinese investment through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and have traditionally dominated the Afghan state. Pakistani leaders have typically considered any Pashtun-led government such as the Ghani regime or the previous one led by former president Hamid Karzai as providing a fillip to Pashtun nationalists on its side of the Durand Line.
This British colonial-era boundary splits the Pashtun heartland between the two countries. That fear now includes the possibility that jihadis in Pakistan , freshly inspired by the Taliban victory in Afghanistan, might try to seize power at home.
Trying, of course, is not the same as succeeding. And when Pakistan is shaken, so too is India, its less than neighborly rival and nuclear competitor. Pakistani jihadis come in many different shapes and sizes, but no matter: The possibility of a nuclear-armed terrorist regime in Pakistan has now grown from a fear into a strategic challenge that no American president can afford to ignore. The nation that has both nuclear weapons and a dangerous mix of terrorists was — and remains — Pakistan.
We keep a close eye on everything, even the Islamic madrassas, where more than 2 million students are more likely studying sharia law than economics or history. These official assurances have fallen largely on deaf ears at the White House, principally because one president after another has learned from American intelligence that these same Pakistani leaders have often been working surreptitiously with the terrorists to achieve common goals.
One such goal was the recent defeat of the Kabul regime, which had been supported by the U. Bin Laden fled to the one place where his security could be assured — Pakistan. In , when the U.
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