Interfacing Ground Realities of Im/Mobilities and Migration Policy in Pakistan

This article foregrounds the migration–development nexus and analyses how the policy on migration and development in Pakistan does, or does not, address ongoing im/mobility realities. International migration is a significant economic and political issue. Meanwhile, international donors seek to influence the state’s development planning and policies on citizens’ im/mobilities. This article asks: How does the current migration policy in Pakistan engage with, and address, ongoing im/mobility realities within the migration–development nexus? Using a comprehensive mixed-methods research design, the analysis draws on qualitative and survey data, collected during fieldwork in three areas of Pakistan, and an extensive review of policies pertinent to the migration–development nexus. Findings reveal gaps and exclusions, showing a misalignment between macro-level policy agendas and lived experiences. Pakistan’s migration policy reveals not a lack of knowledge, but a hierarchy of attention, exposing prioritisations, omissions and silences in the existing policy. Addressing this disjuncture requires reimagining migration governance as a multidimensional, inclusive and context-sensitive process, centring internal mobility, climate adaptation and social equity within the migration–development nexus. The evidence calls for a fundamental rethinking of migration governance in Global South contexts, contributing to broader debates on migration, the state and the migration–development nexus.