Zia’s 1977 coup and Islamization drove educated Pakistanis to emigrate

Evidence

Changez grew up in a small town about five hours southwest of Lahore. After completing a degree in economics in the 1970s, he tried to get a job in Pakistan, with no success. Pakistan was in the midst of a tumultuous political and economic transition. In 1977, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was deposed and sentenced to death, then replaced by the military dictator Zia ul-Haq. For the next eleven years, Pakistan underwent a transition in which the government imposed a strict social program of Islamization, with included the imposition of Sharia (Islamic law). Under military rule, the economy floundered, and unemployment and underemployment reached historic highs. Like many who could not find jobs, Changez turned to the idea of leaving Pakistan. He was young, single, and needed to make an income to support his family. His father, who had worked as a railway station porter, had retired. Although he received a modest government pension, he relied on Changez, his only son, to provide future income for the family. — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 580

Categorization

• STORYSTEM: The educated son of a retired railway porter forced abroad by dictatorial economic collapse is itself a strong character setup for fiction.