Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira claimed that the dual nationality law was being amended for ‘those Pakistanis whose hearts beat with their country’. He was addressing media men at Dera Kaira – his hometown Lalamusa. I too belong to Lalamusa. But I have lived in Oslo for many years, yet I have never had the urge to obtain dual nationality.
My roots are in Lalamusa; my heart beats for the city that has been associated with manufacturing counterfeit cosmetics. When I go back in memory lane, I see innumerable tongas lined on the GT road to fetch few passengers that alighted from buses. I was one such passenger. The ride from ‘Lalum USA’ (that’s how we lovingly called Lalamusa) to my village, six miles on the dirt track meandering through green crops used to rejuvenate our spirit. Alas! Tongas have mostly disappeared and replaced by Qingchis, which make ear-splitting noise. I would still prefer the whiff of horse dung to the modern Qingchi.
Norway is a second home to thousands of Pakistanis, many hailing from Lalamusa and Kharian. Pakistanis are so high in number that some suggest renaming Norway to Kharway. Yet I assure that hardly anyone wants to get a dual nationality; all of the expatriates want to return to their roots and be buried in their homeland. Therefore, Mr Kaira, you need not fire your gun by resting it on our shoulders. We are every inch the Pakistani and want to remain so.
DR A P SANGDIL
Oslo, Norway