Pakistan

FHS Oral History Project – Khalid Muneer

Khalid Muneer was born in Pakistan in 1951. He recalled his earliest years in Pakistan, particularly the stories his family passed down about the deadly Partition that divided India and Pakistan in 1947. Khalid emphasized how his turbulent migrant experience from India to England motivated him to study a career that ensured financial security and allowed him to travel worldwide. Thus, Khalid worked for an international banking company for seventeen years throughout the 1970s and 1980s, which stationed him across ten countries. He briefly recounted how the larger Cold War affected his professional career, given that he worked and lived in various “Third World” countries. In 1991, Khalid retired from international banking and emigrated to the United States, fulfilling his entrepreneurial desires. Khalid repurposed his deep cultural knowledge from living in several different cultures to serve in public and political positions in Central Florida, including various chambers of commerce, ethnic organizations, and running for US Congressional District Ten in 2022. Khalid underlined the centrality of political representation for minority and underserved communities, fueling his pursuit to serve in the political arena. As he adroitly put it, “If you’re not at the table, you’re going to be on the menu.” Given his profound three-decade experience in Central Florida as a public and private citizen, Khalid discussed extensively the current (c. 2025) conditions of the region, its economic and ethnic contours, its challenges, and what he envisions for Orlando in the next thirty to hundred years.

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