I know this is random. I live in these two countries moving bw them so I wondered.
Mostly I know what people think of each, but I did wonder if there was a difference in opinion here in a more leftist space.
Qatar as the labour exploiting oil nation?
Pakistan the third world country culturally like India with Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists etc?
PS. If you have any question about either, happy to answer.
Question you might know the answer to as you live in Pakistan (at least sometimes):
Has their been an update on the Asma Batool and the other campaigner’s blasphemy case?
Qatar: rich, oil wealth, decent news reporting but also the gulf states use of practically (if not actual) slave labour and massive inequality, linked to racism. Mostly an unknown to me.
Pakistan: massive sexism and religious intolerance issues, expounded on with the beef with India and allied with the PRC.
Could be a mixing pot of people and ideas, but various ethnic groups feel exploited and get involved in armed resistance, meanwhile Ahminis and women have a habit of getting murdered and mob justice seems to support that… Which is sad. Instability in the government that transcends the love of cricket.
Would like to know more, met a few people from there and they’ve generally been decent folk, but also were glad to have moved to Europe…Qatar: no opinion, I barely even heard that name Pakistan: all the people I’ve interacted with online were arrogant. They never understood a single thing and tops on personal attacks. Never had any civil conversation till now. Knew a girl from there from facebook, she suddenly disappered too
Qatar: used slaves to do all the work, Muslim extremist to the core, no culture to speak of. Pakistan: diverse, not as Muslim extremist as people think, interesting culture.
Qatar, yep.
Pakistan, oh I’d say pretty extremist. Interesting is certainly one word to use for the culture.
Pakistan honestly hates itself put of hate for India. And I mean doesn’t care about history pre 1947 since that would be India back then. Also desperate to paint Pakistan as an Arab nation. Despite next to no connection or knowledge of the Arab world, or the language.
Culturally very similar to India but desperately trying not to.
Knowing almost nothing about any of them: seems like okay places to live (at least as a dude), but evidently if you’re more used to comforts you’d rather live in Qatar than Pakistan. But Pakistan seems to me to be culturally ‘richer’. Their food is probably great, and Qatari food is probably good and healthy.
Well kind of but kind of not. In Pakistan we got a massive house, maids, drivers, garndener etc. Since its a very highly populated country even a middle - upper middle class family can afford to employ people.
Yes Pakistan also just feels more like an actual real country.
Having said that it depends on what you think of as comforts, there’s many comforts that i still have in Qatar that i don’t in Pakistan.
Food I love in both places.
my super-ignorant American take:
Pakistan, really really hates India. I hope it can be healed but I don’t know enough to dare saying how. Poor but admirable aspirations at space exploration. Zealous about parenting and proud of their culture. Probably more similar to my own background than a lot of people would feel comfortable admitting.
Qatar, rich from oil deals with America. Corrupt but it’s our fault for lavishing them while we raped the rest of the middle east for plunder. Intolerant but could probably be won over to be less outwardly hateful of new ideas since they’ve tasted wealth and desire to join the international community. The things that their religion makes them hate tend to be things that most other Abrahamic religions also hate, which could be grounds for friendship? I don’t think it works like that but it’s fun to joke.
Americans are pretty racist but these two nationalities get less hate than others. Or would if American’s bothered to learn the difference. Most of us can’t point to Qatar on a map. I hope this was amusing to read.
Yeah Pakistan defines itself in large part by its hate for India. Dont see any improvements either in the next decade or two anyways. Don’t really care about space exploration honestly.
Yes family is everything here. Not always in a good way.
Qatar you’re mostly right about too. Don’t think people from other abrahamic religions would agree with the intensity of the average Muslim. Most Christian societies at this point are not as intense in my eys anyways. But I do think a lot of morality is shared bw them.
Good to read. Thanks
India really, really hates Pakistan. They keep attacking it.
Qatar: slave labor
Pakistan: Muslim India
PS. If you have any question about either, happy to answer>
Could you please say a few words about the situation for young people (say 15-25) in Pakistan? What are their dreams and aspirations? Main differences between socioeconomic groups of youth? Main conflicts and disagreements with older generations? View of the world?
I fully realise that this is a huge and complex question and that it will be very difficult to generalise. Any response on these kinds of questions would be much appreciated though!
Well education is terrible here. For the lower classes, people in villages etc, the hope is to be able to work for themselves primarily. If they study to a highschool level (and that education is TERRIBLE), literally just factually incorrect stuff is being taught but anyways, those people may look for some government job later.
The best chance for success is moving to a city and going to a university, normally too expensive for people. For the few who do it can help the family somewhat.
The military also has a hold in people, many wanna join the military.
The cities house the middle-class, most hope to leave Pakistan for a better future. Noone expects a good life in Pakistan.
The young v old issue may be political, imran khan the former pm had a largely young fanbase while other political figures have older fan bases. Other than that, there isn’t much of a cultural shift bw generations. In the upper middle class circles, theres a good bit of westernisation which is the other divide. But that is like 5% of the population at most.
Overall, the youth has no hope for this nation. Dont expect to have a safe future here. Leaving Pakistan to work as a guard or driver etc and living in terrible living quarters is better for people than staying here in many cases.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write a long and informative answer. It was very interesting to learn about the situation. I really hope it will improve. Best of luck to you and your country/community!
Pakistan: No opinion really. I used to know a guy from there - a real hoopy frood.
Qatar: No opinion there either. My only connection to the country have been quite a few layovers in Doha.
The Hammad airpord is lovely. The layovers I expect must’ve been good.
I also always love a hitchhikers reference.
Qatar as a labor exploiting oil nation, yep.
Pakistan I don’t associate with those things. I mostly associate them as the good guys in the culture war with India that causes Indians to come on to America social media and post the most deranged broken English shit you’ve ever heard about Muslims.
Well then mate, let me just tell you. Pakistan is just as bad as India lol. Two sides of the same coin.
As far as I’ve seen, they’re not matching Modi’s Hitler vibes, but you likely know more than an ignorant outsider. I mostly just hate fascists and see India as incredibly problematic.
Maybe just the power dynamic. India is far more powerful, although they both have nukes.
You could say there is no central figure as modi is in India. Imran Khan was the closest but Pakistani politics is fractured.
Plus the actual political power lies with the military here. So they chose who they want as president. They wanted Khan and they bought him in, he became a threat and they kicked him out.
Right now khan would dominate the public vote but where is he? In prison.
The people here are very culty and rage plus hate fueled. Its less visible bc it’s not that big online.
Infact we keep banning social media sites since literally every government is a religious fascist anyways. Twitter was big here and they banned it. YouTube was banned years ago.
The people in power are genuinely a combination of vile and stupid. The media … just as bad
I agree India is a problem. The culture is rotten to the core. Modi is one of the most disgusting modern figures and yet flies under the radar
wth who’s making those pakistani youtube videos of factories then?
Even the PRC pays people to produce content to upload to YouTube for international optics, and I’m sure it’s easier to get a VPN in Pakistan regardless.
Ahh fuck. 😭
That’s a shame, I didn’t realize how culturally isolated they were. I appreciate the redirection of my black and white analysis to a more nuanced one. I would always research a topic much more if it wasn’t specifically about my general vibes on it.
How do you feel about Qatar’s labor abuses such as confiscating passports?
I see that https://rch.qa/qatar-labor-law-can-your-employer-legally-keep-your-passport/ shows this is now strictly illegal, but also understanding how employer employee power dynamics affects legal systems I’m dubious of real change having happened.
In regards to Qatar: Yeah there is some pressure to end it from up top. And the people are afraid of the qatari government, especially if you don’t hold a qatari passport.
My dad knows the industry VERY well. The issue hasn’t been eradicated. The smaller businesses especially those owned by non qataris (and i won’t get into the business structures required since its beneficial to have a qatari have 51% ownership) are too scared to fuck around and find out, yet they do sometimes.
Bigger companies can do whatever tf they want as is the case everywhere in the world.
When I was in school my school took our teachers passports. Thats when I learnt of this rule. Bizzare. But Qatar treat foreigners, particularly south Asians and Africans as disposable.
‘Westerners’ are valued and seen as human, will be paid 10× what a black or brown person would.
What about the terrorist camps in Pakistan?
As someone who always does critique Pakistan I wanna say Pakistan is a massive victim of terrorism itself.
Whether it was us funded, pak funded or India funded. All are too blame. The same goes for Afghanistan. So many innocent people have died in these wars and issues that were forced upon us, the people.
That can be said for almost every country out there. By your logic we would never be able to blame any country for anything.
Everything that happens within a country’s border is the responsibility of no one else but the country itself. Whether intentional or not, they need to take accountability for it.
I’m not saying 100% of the people there are guilty, it’s just that if not for the country and their government who do we hold responsible?
Global opinion?
Just meant the opinion of people outside these two places.
Wrote this in a hurry and made gpt rewrite it for better eligibility.
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No Path to Belonging Expatriates remain outsiders regardless of time spent in the country. There is no permanent residency or citizenship pathway unless born to a Qatari man.
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Rigid Social Hierarchy Discrimination based on nationality and appearance is widespread. Qataris are at the top, followed by Westerners, then Arabs, East Asians, South Asians, and Africans.
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Racism and Social Isolation Locals often show disdain toward expats, maintaining distance and superiority. Even children reflect this behavior, which goes unchecked.
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Growing Hostility There’s a rise in anti-expat practices: visa cancellations, lack of NOCs, unpaid wages, delayed payments, and demotions.
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Selective Immigration Qatar now seeks only skilled Western professionals. Lower-income workers are being sidelined as the country distances itself from its labor-reliant past.
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Poor Driving Culture Despite excellent roads, traffic behavior is reckless. Qatar has one of the highest road fatality rates per capita.
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Limited Legal Protection Court proceedings are in Arabic. Legal aid is costly and inaccessible for many, leaving expats vulnerable.
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Unprofessional Business Environment Unpaid salaries, ignored contracts, and delayed invoices are common. Accountability is rare.
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Disrespect for Time and Order There’s no functioning queue system. Nationals are prioritized regardless of wait time.
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Overpriced Housing Market Rent is high, quality is low, and buying property is nearly impossible for expats.
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Language Exclusion With 60% of the population not speaking Arabic, government services remain largely inaccessible to non-Arabic speakers.
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Rising Costs Utilities, telecom, and daily expenses are increasingly unaffordable, with some of the world’s highest rates.
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Lack of Entertainment Cultural and recreational options are limited, contributing to a boring lifestyle.
Qatar’s modern exterior hides outdated laws and systemic inequality. The promised post–World Cup transformation never arrived. For many expats, the country feels hollow.
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