If I may be forgiven for getting back to the original subject of this thread, I thought, Max, that I could get some answers for you from one of the many Pakistanis who staff gas stations and convenience stores.

So this evening I went to the 7-11 store (a convenience store, part of a national chain) which is staffed by a number of guys whom I take for Pakistanis. But when I asked the most voluble one if he and the others are Pakistani, he replied they are Egyptian, which took me very much by surprise.

I then proceeded to the gas station where there is a very friendly and personable young man who works as cashier and whom I took for a Pakistani. I started by asking him if he is Pakistani and to my amazement, he told me he is Nepali. First time I have ever met a Nepali or even heard that there were any in the U.S. We had a nice conversation in the course of which I learned that Nepalis speak Nepali, which is very similar to Hindi and Punjabi (which are similar to each other). He can manage those languages since they are close to Nepali. He told me that the official and most widely used language of Pakistan is Urdu, which he can partly understand since it's similar to Punjabi, but he can't read it because he doesn't know the alphabet used for Urdu. Nepalis, incidentally, are mostly Buddhists although many are of the Hindu religion. There are almost no Muslims in Nepal.

So if I want a definitive answer from a native, I have to keep looking for a Pakistani.

But I did learn something rather embarassing and humbling: people's appearance or the way they speak English are not reliable guides to their ethnicity. Those whom I took for Pakistanis turned out to be Egyptians and Nepali. Now I have to find out about the people at the other gas station who, I bet, will turn out to be Indian instead of Pakistani.