The writer is a professor of Psychiatry and consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in the UK.
Pakistani Norwegians have a strong presence in higher education, media and politics. First generation Pakistani Norwegians can be distinguished from the mainstream in several demographic aspects while second generation Pakistani Norwegians have gone on to become professionals and politicians. The diaspora began during the 1970s when first generation Pakistani Norwegians arrived in Norway as guest workers under Norway’s then liberal immigration scheme, which allowed for unskilled “guest workers” to temporarily settle in Norway. Out of a population of five million, 40,000 Norwegians trace their roots to Punjab province in Pakistan. Most of these were young men who came from areas surrounding the towns of Kharian and Gujrat though later the cluster included a high number of workers from Lahore. An amendment in Norwegian law in the 1970s allowed for the already arrived guest immigrant workers to permanently settle in Norway. However, following stricter immigration laws passed in 1976, Pakistani immigration to Norway shifted from guest workers to family reunifications in which Pakistani Norwegians applied for their close relatives and/or spouses to immigrate to Norway. Once the second generation of Norwegians of Pakistani origin got married, they were classified as Norwegians.
Gang culture is not a typical Norwegian phenomenon; both narcotics and gang violence have become a Norwegian problem over the last 50 years. Both A-Gjengen (gang) and B-Gjengen (gang) are run by criminal elements within Oslo’s immigrant Pakistani community. Both immigrants and ethnic Norwegians are their victims. The Norwegian police have been criticised for not taking stronger action against them. In 2006, tensions between the Pakistani-dominated Young Guns and B-Gjengen led to an open gun battle in broad daylight at Oslo’s popular Aker Brygge Complex on the waterfront. Many key gang members were arrested and others fled the country. Tension is so high between Oslo’s rival gangs that police are worried about armed battles breaking out at any time. They worry that Oslo’s gang culture has become more widespread and more complex. Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reports that gang battles are motivated by revenge, territory and drug-related profits. Profits from drug sales form the basis for the gangs’ existence. These gangs are organised and their battles are increasingly being fought over market share and sales territory. Many former recruits and runners for the old gangs have formed new gangs in recent years, some with links to Albanian criminals. All told, gangs in Oslo are now believed capable of mobilising more than 100 people on each side.
A large number of immigrants have been blamed for the expansion of gang culture. The Pakistan youth are known for their gangs and indulgence in crime. A few years ago, the Norwegian police uncovered a house outside Oslo where Arshad Mahmood, a Norwegian Pakistani, held and tortured members of a competing Morocco/Dutch gang, competing in the narcotics trade. He has now been deported under a new Norwegian criminal law. He was described as the purported leader of Oslo’s so-called A-gang. He had been convicted numerous times for violence, assault and making threats. Psychiatrists claimed he has a split personality, which makes it unproblematic for him to commit violent crimes while at the same time maintaining a seemingly normal family life.
International Operation Nemesis in 2008, which targeted Pakistani gangs based in Oslo, showed how host country social control institutions came into conflict with immigrant value systems to inflict shame on the ‘honour’ of immigrant criminals who have violated their own cultural/religious code. Operation Nemesis adopted a policy of following the flow of money between countries, bank accounts and business projects in order to uncover fraud, corruption and money laundering related to the criminal enterprises of a Pakistani gang based in Oslo. Nemesis involved not only the arrest of the six Rasool brothers, who were at the core of the criminal operation, but also the arrest of their father, mother and wives, who were charged with receiving the proceeds of crime and held in custody for several weeks. Those in the Pakistani community in Norway viewed this as shameful for the whole family and especially for the sons, who had engaged in behaviour that resulted in their loss of honour for failing to protect the honour of the women in their family. Although unintended in the planning of the Nemesis strategy, it had the effect of shaming the Pakistani brothers involved in the criminal enterprise. An informant in the Pakistani community indicated that the Rasool family had lost face in the community and would no longer be able to meet other Pakistanis with pride. This reaction within the Pakistani community in Oslo suggests that a strategy of shaming Pakistani criminals for violating their own cultural/religious values may be an effective deterrent to crime whose proceeds are shared by the whole family, including the women and parents.
A number of Norwegian citizens of Pakistani origin are involved in criminal cases such as family feuds and property disputes in Pakistan. There were some efforts made to develop a legal framework and agreement between both countries for such crimes but it did not materialise. Since a number of these Norwegian citizens come from Gujrat, a modern crime scene unit was established with the help of the government of Norway to help the Gujrat police. Through the first phase of the programme, police officials, particularly in Gujrat, were involved in the training and capacity building of police officials on investigating crime scenes for better reporting but, unfortunately, vested political interests in Pakistan conveniently hampered this programme. There remains an urgent need to develop a mechanism to address criminal cases that are traced back to Pakistan.
There is no easy solution to this problem. Perhaps solution is the wrong word. Foreign criminals cost the police, judiciary and Norwegian correctional services enormous amounts of money. The police now want to deport criminal immigrants sooner in order to reduce the cost. The police directorate has prepared a report that shows that a criminal deported immigrant costs the justice system between 500,000 kroners and one million kroners. In 2008, Oslo police stalked Pakistani gangs so intensely that they began holding meetings in the forest instead, whereupon the police demanded funding for vehicles capable of tracking them there as well. It is in the interests of the Pakistani community in Norway to resolve this quickly. The Pakistan government will have to make it clear that any continuation of the gang culture will result in terrible consequences for those involved. Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif will have to seriously consider tackling this challenge of security, which remains a huge concern for the international community and our national prestige. He has to take the initiative to launch programmes particularly focused on increased cooperation in the law and order sector.http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/13-Apr-2015/pakistani-gangs-in-norway
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