Overseas Pakistanis today live in a paradox: they are indispensable to the country’s survival, yet largely invisible in its strategic imagination. This tension was the heartbeat of my conversation with Nazakat Malick, a dialogue that resonated deeply with my own arc from Lahore’s newsrooms to the media policy corridors of Kuala Lumpur.
Two Lives, One Distance
There is something universal in the migrant journey: the familiar script of departure and the unfamiliar burden of never truly “arriving.” Like millions of others, the diaspora inhabits an in-between world where the green passport defines identity, but foreign borders define opportunity.
My own trajectory, evolving from a PTV broadcaster to a regional strategist for UNESCO-linked projects and AI-driven media innovation, mirrors this dislocation. But with a critical twist: I did not simply leave. I carried Pakistan’s professional image into international forums, turning “exile” into a moving, borderless newsroom.
The Weight of Remittances vs. The Lightness of Rights
In Pakistan’s macroeconomic story, the diaspora is a line item: remittances nearing the $20 billion mark. On a spreadsheet, this is a success; in living rooms from Riyadh to London, it is an obligation. We are sending money not just to support families, but to steady a fragile republic.
Yet, our political and social rights lag far behind our economic weight. At home, the debate often reduces the Overseas Pakistani to an “ATM and a slogan”, romanticizing our sacrifice while resenting our distance, yet rarely granting us a coherent voice in the state’s direction.
Bureaucracy Without Borders
Dealing with consulates, NADRA offices, and property disputes across time zones reveals a quiet crisis: the state follows you abroad, but its services do not. Distance magnifies every bureaucratic indifference; a misplaced file in Lahore can freeze a life decision made in London.
In my work with broadcasters and policymakers across the Asia-Pacific, I see this pattern repeated. States talk about “diaspora engagement,” but the infrastructure, efficient consular support and genuine legal representation, remains underdeveloped, particularly for those at the lower end of the labor chain.
Identity in the Age of AI
There is a final layer to this story: who controls the migrant’s image? During my years in television, I learned that a morning show can humanize a community in 20 minutes, or reduce it to a caricature in 30 seconds.
Today, with AI tools and algorithmic feeds, that power has multiplied. From my base in Kuala Lumpur, I am exploring this frontier: using AI not to erase context, but to restore it. We are training a new generation of media practitioners to tell the migrant story with nuance rather than pity. We are explaining the diaspora to the world, and the world to them, simultaneously.
A Bridge, Not a Farewell
Migration is not a farewell; it is a bridge. The question for Pakistan is whether it chooses to walk across that bridge with its citizens or merely stand at one end counting the dollars.
The Overseas Pakistani is asking for something radical yet modest: to be seen as a bearer of ideas and skills, not just a sender of currency. My life’s work, from the studios of Lahore to the training rooms of the Asia-Pacific, suggests that true recognition will come only when the diaspora learns to redefine the state from afar.
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