As the main capital city of the Punjab province and the second-largest city in Pakistan today, Lahore has an immense amount of history leading to its wealth and commerce in Pakistan’s society. However, during ancient times, the history of Lahore is incredibly vague with little to no written proof of the events that led to the city of Lahore. In 1947, Pakistan achieved independence from British rule which lasted for about a century (Javed, Nasir, and Sana Riaz). The colonization and Partition of India and Pakistan has played an important role in the structure of Pakistani cities such as Lahore. The recent shift of power away from Britain has caused various issues in Lahore such as, “lack of integrated urban development policies, unchecked urban growth, overlapping jurisdictions of land governing authorities and ineffective building control..” (Rana, Irfan Ahmad, and Saad Saleem Bhatti).
Along with the increasing variability in urban development, the economy in Lahore, Pakistan has grown immensely since turning away from British rule. Particularly, the study of finance and accounting has had an uptake in interest from citizens residing in Lahore, Pakistan. Furthermore, “..Islamic nations have been mostly left out of the accounting development research…” (Ashraf, Junaid, and WaQar I. Ghani). Therefore, countries like Pakistan have had to hyper-focus on building up their economy from neglect resulting from colonization. However, in hopes of building up the economy in Lahore, there have been educational disadvantages. Regarding the available education in Lahore, “members knowledge of developments in the international sphere may not have been well developed…” (Ashraf, Junaid, and WaQar I. Ghani). So, there was little educational opportunity provided to the citizens in Lahore, Pakistan.
Lahore’s potential economic and urban growth but contradictory lack of educational opportunities formulated the idea of finding education in a different country, which is substantial to the migration of many Pakistan citizens. Also, the historical significance of British colonization and Partition has affected the city of Lahore and its citizens such as Changez in the book The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Changez migrated to the United States of America and studied finance at Princeton University, which is likely related to the economic and urban state of Lahore, Pakistan at the time.
Works Cited
Ashraf, Junaid, and WaQar I. Ghani. “Accounting development in Pakistan.” The International Journal of Accounting 40.2 (2005): 175-201.
Javed, Nasir, and Sana Riaz. “Issues in urban planning and policy: the case study of Lahore, Pakistan.” New Urban Agenda in Asia-Pacific. Springer, Singapore, 2020. 117-162.
Rana, Irfan Ahmad, and Saad Saleem Bhatti. “Lahore, Pakistan–Urbanization challenges and opportunities.” Cities 72 (2018): 348-355.
Hi Kelsey! Thank you for the post. I have met people from Pakistan but honestly do not know much about the country. Your post provided great context. I appreciate how you mentioned the lack of educational growth in the country, driving people to migrate. Education is such an important aspect of a country’s infrastructure. Now, when I read The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” I can better understand why Changez is migrating.
I found this post to be both informative and an enjoyable read. I was enlightened about many things which I was not aware of. I’m sure this post will better help me understand the environment in which The Reluctant Fundamentalist takes place.
Very insightful post, Kelsey. I appreciate how you chose to incorporate some history of Pakistan, specifically in Lahore, as well as some current events that have aided in how many parts of Pakistan operate today and its association with colonialism. I was quite interested in your presentation as you brought up the appearance of underdeveloped education in Pakistan, and this was a reason why many individuals from Pakistan choose to migrate to other cities– I never knew of this. It’s important to note the many possible reasons for migration, these reasons can tell a lot about a culture, I found it quite admiring that many Pakistani individuals choose to migrate because of the education disadvantages, it shows they value education and want the best for their future generations.
Hi Kelsey! Thanks for this great context presentation. Admittedly, I don’t know much about Pakistan, so any information is welcome, and I think you did a great job of giving us a little more history into what Changez was coming from and how this helped shape his values and ideas in the novel.
Thanks for this informative post. I have never learned about Pakistan or its history, but the country looks like something interesting to research more about. This post provided some good background information about this weeks novel.