There are several million Pakistanis working in foreign countries. Many work in the Middle-East but also in other countries. They leave their families at home and come to visit only once or twice a year, even less often.

Families of expat Pakistanis are spread all over the country and receive remittances from abroad for their general upkeep, health expenses and education.

Foreign remittances are an important contribution to Pakistan`s economy, ranked second only af ter industrial export.

Many Pakistanis have emigrated and settled abroad, usually in Europe, NorthAmerica and Australia. Usually it`s the men, who leave first and after a couple of years they bring the rest of their immediate family.

In Norway, there are about 40,000 Norwegians of Pakistani origin in a total immigrant population of half-a-million and an overall population of 5 million.

The Pakistanis began coming in the late 1960s and are now in the second and third generation.

Many Pakistanis have done well in their new homeland, rising from being bus drivers, restaurant workers, renting corner shops to becoming owners of restaurants and larger shops and so on. But it is usually not the first generation that reaps the fruits; it is the children and the grandchildren.

The first batch of emigrants had planned to return home af ter they had made some money abroad but now most of them have actually settled in Norway and many other countries.

Although most immigrants succeed through education and hard work. Then Norway being a welfare state, there are the benefits of pension: everyone is entitled to a pension from the age 67 includes immigrant women who may never have worked outside the home, receive a pay cheque in their own name.

But not everyone who becomes a labour migrant or immigrant stays abroad for good. Many labour migrants and regular immigrants return.

In our time, due to relatively cheap air travel, many stay connected to the country of origin as well as the new land and keep coming and going. Over time, they also grow roots in the new land, especially when the children and grandchildren grow up in the adopted country.

Usually, the young ones have loser ties with their parents` homeland. They just find it pleasant to visit grandparents and other relatives but they don`t Usually, the young ones have loser ties with their parents` homeland.

They just find it pleasant to visit grandparents and other relatives but they don`t find it natural to move there permanently. And when they become adults they also take advantage of Norway`s free education and work their way into well-paid jobs.

find it natural to move there permanently. And when they become adults they also take advantage of Norway`s free education and work their way into wellpaid jobs.

The next generation of immigrants establish family ties, often with a spouse from Pakistan, but also from Norway or another European country.

Although many young Pakistanis have Norwegian girlfriends or boyfriends, when the time for marriage comes, few marry ethnic Norwegians, since parents still have a say about what they `think is best`. It is likely that this tradition and practice will change over time.

Many Pakistani-Norwegians come back to their land of origin. One example is Muzaffar Mumtaz, who shuttles back and forth between Islamabad and Oslo (Capital of Norway).

Muzaffar came back to Pakistan about four years ago, after having completed his law degree and early practice in Scotland, and more than a decade in Norway, where he is a citizen.

Now he has married in Pakistan and has a family and a young son and daughter. He finds it both pleasant and practical to live in Pakistan, especially with small children.

`I appreciate almost everything in Norway`, said Muzaffar, adding, `Yet, at this particular time in life, I hope to be able to earn enough as a consultant in international and corporate law, based in Islamabad`.

`I visit Norway at least twice or thrice a year to keep in touch with my daughter there, and also for work reasons.

`When my children grow older they may also go to Norway for further education. After all, Norway is an advanced country with a very good free-education system. There are no fees, but it is a high-cost land, so you need more money in Norway than in Pakistan to keep going. I feel the daily stress is less in Pakistan and people seem to have more time for each other`, he adds.

Muzaffar is a lawyer by training. But he is also a poet. His works have been published in journals and periodicals, and has written a book in Urdu titled `Ishiraf`, which can be translated to mean `Deviation` in English.

`I am a member of the Norwegian Writers Association`, he said proudly.

He stresses that he considers it important that people in our time don`t only focus on utilitarian everyday chores but also set aside time for meditation and socialising.

`We must all try to discover our inner self and admit that spirituality is part of what we are as human beings,` he said. `My book is about fourteen autumns. In a way it is a summary of important events in my life among people far north in the world, almost at the North Pole`, Muzaffar adds.

`But now I am in Pakistan, and I like Pakistan, too. I like the East and the West, yes, and the North`, he said.

`We can philosophise about life, about travel and about where we live. And where one`s real home is? Is it only where we were born, or can it also be where we move to, within the country or abroad? Is home rather where our loved ones live, where our children grow up and have roots? And yet, there is always something special about `home` in the sense of our birthplace and home country,` he said.

`Pakistan is a country where every person is very social. Therefore you can never really leave the country. Even when you are abroad, you often think about the people and places `at home` For the future, I pray that peace prevail in this beautiful land of Pakistan as in Norway. And I do hope we will deepen our contacts with the land and people of Norway`, lawyer and poet, Muzaffar Mumtaz said.