Oslo’s ‘Little Karachi’ – a trendy Pakistani hotspot

It is called Little Karachi and is fast turning into the Norwegian capital’s hottest place to live and hang out.

Situated just east of the city centre, the Groenland area has become a thriving part of the city with international shops, restaurants and cafes – and a distinctly subcontinental flavour.

“If we lived here, we didn’t think we lived in Norway, we thought we lived in Pakistan,” says Riaz Amad, one of the first working immigrants to come here from Pakistan in the early 1970s.

He was part of Norway’s first major non-European immigration. Back then the problem was finding accommodation, Mr Ahmad says, not jobs.

“Now it’s the other way around. Young people now have no problem finding a flat, but jobs are scarce…