Pakistani Americans - Relations With Pakistan

Relations With Pakistan

Pakistani Americans have always maintained a strong bond with their homeland. Several leading airlines fly from US to Pakistan, carrying with them thousands of Pakistanis who mostly go home to visit family and relatives. The relationship of the U.S. and Pakistani governments in the past few decades has been very close, and the Pakistani American community has benefited from this American interest in the country of their origin. Pakistani TV channels have found their way into homes of the diaspora worldwide.

Several paid TV channels are available for viewing; Pakistani TV serials, reality TV shows and political talk shows are popular among the expatriates. Those without access to TV can also watch the same channels on the internet. Pakistani Americans maintain a deep interest in the society and politics of Pakistan. Funds are raised by the community in America for the different political parties and groups in Pakistan. From all the Pakistani diaspora, Pakistani Americans raised the largest number of funds to help Pakistan due to the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. Tensions among ethnic groups like the Sindhis, Punjabis, Pashtuns or Baluchis, in Pakistan are not reflected in interaction between these subgroups in America. Several international airlines serve the growing Pakistani community in US connecting major US airports to those in Pakistan.

The Pakistani community in the United States also remits the largest share of any Pakistani diaspora community since 2002/03, surpassing those from Saudi Arabia which from 2000/01 remittances were $309.9 million and increased to $1.25 billion by 2007/08 and during the same period remittances from the USA increased from $73.3 million to $1.72 billion.

In 2012 the Election Commission of Pakistan granted Overseas Pakistanis the right to vote in future Pakistani general elections. By allowing the setting up of polling stations in embassies and consulates, this move was welcomed by those Pakistanis living abroad particularly in America who stated "Overseas Pakistanis make enormous contributions to the development of Pakistan".