That bit about smuggling rupees to buy gold in the Gulf is wild — I’d never considered how a pilgrimage exception could become a loophole for currency arbitrage. It reminds me of how informal money flows still shape things today, since I’ve used a video to SRT converter for interviews with overseas Pakistani families discussing how they send money back home, and the stories of hawala and gold always come up. The Hajj Notes feel like an early, state-sanctioned version of that same grey channel.
While All Things Pakistan has remained alive and online, it has been dormant since June 11, 2011 - when, on the blog's 5th anniversary, we decided that it was time to move on. We have been heartened by your messages and the fact that a steady traffic has continued to enjoy the archived content on ATP.
While the blog itself will remain dormant, we are now beginning to add occasional (but infrequent) new material by the original authors of the blog, mostly to archive what they may now publish elsewhere. We will also be updating older posts to make sure that new readers who stumble onto this site still find it useful.
We hope you will continue to find ATP a useful venue to reflect upon and express your Pakistaniat. - Editors
That bit about smuggling rupees to buy gold in the Gulf is wild — I’d never considered how a pilgrimage exception could become a loophole for currency arbitrage. It reminds me of how informal money flows still shape things today, since I’ve used a video to SRT converter for interviews with overseas Pakistani families discussing how they send money back home, and the stories of hawala and gold always come up. The Hajj Notes feel like an early, state-sanctioned version of that same grey channel.
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