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Pakistan |
Bangladesh |
The Bihari minority in Bangladesh were subject to persecution during and after the Bangladesh War of Independence (a part of the Indo-Pakistani conflicts and the Cold War) [1] (called the Civil War in Pakistan), [2] experiencing widespread discrimination. [3] They largely maintained a pro-Pakistani stance, supported the Pakistan Armed Forces and opposed the independence of Bangladesh and the Bengali language movement of the Bengali Muslims. Biharis faced reprisals from Mukti Bahini and Bengali militias [4] [1] resulting in an estimated death toll ranging from 1,000 [5] to 150,000. [6] [7]
Within the context of the conflict in Bangladesh, the term "Bihari" implies the migrants predominantly from the Indian state of Bihar and West Bengal, who headed for then East Pakistan, after the partition of India in 1947. Later on, all Urdu speaking people, even the Punjabis, Pathans, Sindhi and Baloch from West Pakistan, who were posted to East Pakistan or settled in the Eastern Wing were labeled as Biharis by Bengalis. [8] [9]
Bihari representatives claim that 500,000 Biharis were killed, while the Pakistani government's "white paper" and the US Consul estimated at least 64,000-66,000 deaths. [10] [11]
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh ruled Biharis eligible for Bangladesh citizenship in 1972, and about 500,000 chose repatriation to Pakistan. [1] [12] Some repatriation was implemented by the Red Cross over a number of years, [13] but in 1978, the Pakistani government stripped Pakistanis remaining in Bangladesh of Pakistani citizenship. [12] Researchers (such as Sumit Sen) [14] maintain that the Pakistani government's denationalization of the Biharis and reluctance to rehabilitate them in Pakistan are sufficient evidence of persecution to warrant refugee status. The Biharis have also faced institutionalized discrimination linked to their citizenship status, [15] and many live in squalor in refugee camps. [16]
Bihar (now a state in eastern India) was plagued by communal violence between Muslims and Hindus due to partition, [17] along with the other former territories of British India. [18] More than 30,000 Biharis were killed in October and November 1946, and it is estimated that up to one million migrated to East Pakistan. [19] In the aftermath of the 1946 riot in Bihar, Jinnah said 'I never dreamt that in my lifetime I shall see Pakistan in being, but the tragedy of Bihar has brought it about'.[ citation needed ] The Muslim League organized the rehabilitation of the Bihari refugees in Sindh. The arrival of Bihari refugees in camps in Sindh and Bengal in 1946 paralleled the later movement of refugees in 1947. [20]
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (then a student leader) toured affected villages in Bihar with his relief team and was moved to ask Bihari refugees to move to East Bengal in 1947. [17]
The 1947 partition of India displaced between 12 and 18 million people. [21] Millions of Muslims migrated from India to Pakistan while millions of Hindus and Sikhs migrated from Pakistan to India. [22]
One reason cited for communal violence between Biharis and Bengalis was Bengali opposition to Urdu as a national language, which resulted in the Bengali Language Movement and an economic downturn. The relatively secular attitude of East Pakistan increased tensions between the two communities and the two provinces of the country. [23] In the 1970 general elections, Biharis predominantly supported the mostly West Pakistani Muslim League over the Awami League (overwhelmingly supported by Bengalis) and played an active anti-secessionist role in the liberation war. [19]
Biharis supported the Pakistan Armed Forces during the Bangladesh War of Independence, comprising majorities in armed paramilitary groups such as Al-Shams, Razakars and Al-Badr (held responsible for the genocidal campaign against Bengali nationalists, civilians, religious and ethnic minorities). News outlets such as the BBC have published death-toll estimates by independent researchers varying from 200,000 to 500,000. Scholars such as R. J. Rummel and Matthew White estimate the total Bengali civilian death toll at 1.5 million. [24] [25] The casualty figure estimated by Pakistan is 25,000, as reported by the Hamoodur Rahman Commission.
Biharis became the target of retaliation. According to historian Christian Gerlach, many scholars have used the wartime actions of Biharis to understate, marginalize and even justify atrocities against non-Bengalis or to suppress the memory of atrocities committed against them. [10] The Minorities at Risk project puts the number of Biharis killed during the war at 1,000; [5] however, Rummel cites a "likely" figure of 150,000. [24]
In early March 1971, 300 Biharis were slaughtered in rioting by Bengali mobs in Chittagong [ citation needed ]. The massacre was used by the Pakistan Army as a justification to launch Operation Searchlight against the Bengali nationalist movement. [26] Biharis were massacred in Jessore, Panchabibi[ citation needed ] and Khulna [27] (where in March 1972, 300 to 1,000 Biharis were killed and their bodies were thrown into a nearby river). [28] [29]
The magnitude of anti-Bihari attacks by Bengalis throughout the war are contested. Bengali sources admit the death of a few thousand to 30,000 or 40,000 non-Bengalis. [10] According to a white paper released by the Pakistani government, the Awami League killed 64,000 Biharis and West Pakistanis. [30] R. J. Rummel, a historian with the University of Hawaii, [24] gives a range of 50,000 to 500,000 Biharis killed and concludes at a prudent figure of 150,000 murdered by Bengalis overall. [11] International estimates vary from 20,000 to 200,000. In June 1971, Bihari representatives put forward a figure of 500,000 Biharis killed by Bengalis. [10]
Ishrat Ferdousi, a researcher on 1971 atrocities, said attacks on Biharis can be termed “genocide." [31] Sarmila Bose in her book 2011 Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War argues that Bengalis are in a state of denial about the massacre. [31] Bose's claims are not accepted by Bangladeshi historians. [32] [33] [ better source needed ] [34]
Ezaz Ahmed Chowdhury, a Bihari community leader said:
Everyone talks about the killings of Bengalis (by the Pakistani army) in 1971. But none dares to mention the pogroms that were carried out against Biharis, We estimate that hundreds of thousands of Biharis were killed. In (northwestern) Santahar town alone, several thousand were killed in a matter of days [35]
The Liberation War Museum of Bangladesh has downplayed such massacres, calling them "isolated incidents." [29]
The Bangladesh government announced Presidential Order 149 in 1972, offering citizenship to Biharis. According to government sources 600,000 Biharis accepted the offer, and 539,669 opted to return to Pakistan. [36] But according to historian Partha Ghosh approximately 470,000 Biharis out of a total of 700,000 Biharis opted to be repatriated to Pakistan through the International Red Cross. [37] Several groups in Pakistan have urged their government to accept the Biharis. [38] [39]
Surur Hoda, a Socialist leader, played an active role in solving the refugee crisis. He organized a delegation, headed by British Labour Party politician David Ennals and Ben Whitaker, which encouraged many refugees to return to Pakistan. [40] In a 1974 agreement, Pakistan accepted 170,000 Bihari refugees; however, the repatriation process has since stalled. [41]
Organisations such as Refugees International have urged both governments to "grant citizenship to the hundreds of thousands of people who remain without effective nationality". [42] During his 2002 trip to Bangladesh, Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf said he sympathised with the plight of the Biharis but could not allow them to emigrate to Pakistan. [43] As of 2006, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had not addressed the plight of the Biharis. [42] On 19 May 2008, the Dhaka High Court approved citizenship and voting rights for about 150,000 refugees who were minors at the time of Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence. Those born in the country since the war also gained citizenship and the right to vote. [44] [45]
Due to their initial pro-Pakistan stance, the Biharis were consistent in their wish to be repatriated to Pakistan. Initially, 83,000 Biharis (58,000 former civil servants and military personnel), members of divided families and 25,000 hardship cases were evacuated to Pakistan. [37] By 1974, 108,000 had been transferred to Pakistan (mainly by air); by 1981, about 163,000. Both countries have signed agreements on the repatriation of stateless people, but only a few hundred have managed to go to Pakistan. [46] Under the supervision of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees over 119,000 Biharis were airlifted to Pakistan. [47] By 1982, Pakistan had received 169,000 Biharis. Some Biharis also entered Pakistan through illegal means. [47] According to the UNHCR report 170,000 Biharis were repatriated after the second Delhi Agreement. In 1977, 4,790 families were repatriated; 2,800 in 1979; 7,000 in 1981; 6,000 in 1984; and 50 families in 1993. [48] A total of approximately 178,069 Biharis were repatriated to Pakistan between 1973 and 1993. [49] [50] [51]
In 1988, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) raised about $500 million for the repatriation and rehabilitation of Biharis to Pakistan. [52] A special committee, the Rabita (Coordination) Trust Board, was formed by Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. It received $14 million by 1992, and was requesting additional donations from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states for the rehabilitation of Biharis. [53]
Land allocated to Biharis in Pakistan in one colony in Mian Channu is now a slum. [54] The Biharis were targeted by the ethnic Sindhi people during the 1980s Karachi riots. [55] In the Punjab province of Pakistan, ethnic Punjabis forcefully occupied shelters allocated to the Biharis. [54] [ disputed (for: forceful occupation not mentioned in source.) – discuss ] These incidents [ which? ] have prompted some Biharis to return to Bangladesh. [46] [ unreliable source? ]
Although many Biharis have assimilated into the Bengali population of Bangladesh, some opt to migrate to Pakistan and are relocated to refugee camps across Bangladesh. [56] According to one estimate, at least 250,000 Biharis are still in Bangladesh urban refugee camps. [57] The camps have become slums, the largest of which (known as "Geneva Camp", with over 25,000 people) is crowded and undeveloped; families up to 10 people typically live in a single room, one latrine is shared by 90 families and no more than five percent of the population has a formal education. Due to the lack of educational opportunity and poor living conditions, young men in the slums have set up an Urdu Bhashi Jubo Chhatro Shongothon (Urdu-Speaking Young Students Association) to increase educational opportunities in their community. [58] Health and sanitation problems persist due to poor drainage and sewage systems, and the economic condition of Bihari refugees has been described in news reports and academic journals as extremely poor. [58]
In 2014, members of the ruling Awami League, aided by police clashed with the members of the Urdu speaking community, in a bid to grab land in Mirpur. [59] During these clashes, nine people including eight members of a family were burnt alive by Awami League and their local Bengali supporters. [60]
The Biharis blamed the attacks being directed by Elias Mollah, the ethnic Bengali lawmaker of Mirpur. [61] Elias Mollah denied involvement and blamed a "vested conspiracy" against him. [62]
In May 2003, a high court ruling in Bangladesh allowed ten Bihari refugees to obtain citizenship and voting rights. [63] The ruling exposed a generation gap among Biharis; younger Biharis tended to be "elated", but many older people felt "despair at the enthusiasm" of the younger generation and said their true home was in Pakistan. [64] Many Biharis now seek greater civil rights and citizenship in Bangladesh. [65]
On 19 May 2008, the Dhaka High Court approved citizenship and voting rights for about 150,000 refugees who were minors at the time of Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence. Those born in the country since the war also gained citizenship and the right to vote. [44] [45] Several political parties campaigned in the camps for the Bihari vote during the 2008 general election, and the group was considered important to parties and candidates. [66] Although the court ruling explicitly said that the Biharis are eligible to register to vote in the December 2008 elections, the Election Commission closed its rolls in August 2008 without enrolling them. [67]
Bangladesh is the eighth-most populated country in the world with almost 2.2% of the world's population. As per the final results of the 2022 Census of Bangladesh, the country's population is 169,828,911. Bangladesh has one of the highest population densities in the world.
The Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, also known as the third India-Pakistan war, was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 December 1971. The war began with Pakistan's Operation Chengiz Khan, consisting of preemptive aerial strikes on eight Indian air stations. The strikes led to India declaring war on Pakistan, marking their entry into the war for East Pakistan's independence, on the side of Bengali nationalist forces. India's entry expanded the existing conflict with Indian and Pakistani forces engaging on both the eastern and western fronts. Thirteen days after the war started, India achieved a clear upper hand, and the Eastern Command of the Pakistan military signed the instrument of surrender on 16 December 1971 in Dhaka, marking the formation of East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh. Approximately 93,000 Pakistani servicemen were taken prisoner by the Indian Army, which included 79,676 to 81,000 uniformed personnel of the Pakistan Armed Forces, including some Bengali soldiers who had remained loyal to Pakistan. The remaining 10,324 to 12,500 prisoners were civilians, either family members of the military personnel or collaborators (Razakars).
The Bangladesh Liberation War, also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence and known as the Liberation War in Bangladesh, was an armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which resulted in the independence of Bangladesh. The war began when the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan—under the orders of Yahya Khan—launched Operation Searchlight against East Pakistanis on the night of 25 March 1971, initiating the Bangladesh genocide.
In international law, a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees. However, not all refugees are stateless, and many people who are stateless have never crossed an international border. At the end of 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated 4.4 million people worldwide as either stateless or of undetermined nationality, 90,800 (+2%) more than at the end of 2021.
The Rohingya people are a stateless ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Rohingya lived in Myanmar. Described by journalists and news outlets as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya are denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law. There are also restrictions on their freedom of movement, access to state education and civil service jobs. The legal conditions faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar have been compared to apartheid by some academics, analysts and political figures, including Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu, a South African anti-apartheid activist. The most recent mass displacement of Rohingya in 2017 led the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity, and the International Court of Justice to investigate genocide.
Hinduism is the second largest religion in Bangladesh, as according to the 2022 Census of Bangladesh, approximately 13.1 million people responded that they were Hindus, constituting 7.95% out of the total population of 165.15 million people. In terms of population, Bangladesh is the third-largest Hindu populated country of the world, after the neighboring countries of India and Nepal. Hinduism is the second-largest religion in 61 out of 64 districts of Bangladesh, but there is no Hindu majority district in Bangladesh.
The Partition of Bengal in 1947, also known as the Second Partition of Bengal, part of the Partition of India, divided the British Indian Bengal Province along the Radcliffe Line between the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The Bengali Hindu-majority West Bengal became a state of India, and the Bengali Muslim-majority East Bengal became a province of Pakistan.
The Bangladesh genocide was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis, especially Bengali Hindus, residing in East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War, perpetrated by the Pakistan Armed Forces and the Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971, as Operation Searchlight was launched by West Pakistan to militarily subdue the Bengali population of East Pakistan; the Bengalis comprised the demographic majority and had been calling for independence from the Pakistani state. Seeking to curtail the Bengali self-determination movement, erstwhile Pakistani president Yahya Khan approved a large-scale military deployment, and in the nine-month-long conflict that ensued, Pakistani soldiers and local pro-Pakistan militias killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000 Bengalis and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women in a systematic campaign of mass murder and genocidal sexual violence. In their investigation of the genocide, the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists concluded that Pakistan's campaign involved the attempt to exterminate or forcibly remove a significant portion of the country's Hindu populace.
Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh are Muslim migrants with homelands in present-day India who settled in East Pakistan following the partition of India in 1947.
The Al-Badr was a collaborationist paramilitary force composed mainly of pro-Pakistan people, which operated in East Pakistan against the Bengali nationalist movement during the Bangladesh War of Independence, under the patronage of the Government of Pakistan.
The Al-Shams was a collaborationist paramilitary wing allied with several Islamist parties in East Pakistan, comprising both local Bengalis and Muhajirs. Alongside the Pakistan Army and Al-Badr, Al-Shams has been accused of participating in widespread atrocities against Bengali nationalists, civilians, and religious and ethnic minorities during the 1971 war. Following the war, the government of Bangladesh officially banned the group.
Bangladesh and Pakistan are both South Asian Muslim-majority countries. Following the end of British rule in India, the two countries formed a single state for 24 years. The Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized Bangladesh in 1974. Today, bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan are considered to be cordial.
Pakistani nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of Pakistan. The primary law governing these requirements is the Pakistan Citizenship Act, 1951, which came into force on 13 April 1951.
The nationality law of Bangladesh governs the issues of citizenship and nationality of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The law regulates the nationality and citizenship status of all people who live in Bangladesh as well as all people who are of Bangladeshi descent. It allows the children of expatriates, foreigners as well as residents in Bangladesh to examine their citizenship status and if necessary, apply for and obtain citizenship of Bangladesh.
During the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, members of the Pakistani military and Razakar paramilitary force raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women and girls in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape. Bengali Hindu women were especially targeted for rape by the Pakistani Army and its allies, though Bengali Muslim women were raped by Pakistani soldiers as well. Some of these women died in captivity or committed suicide, while others moved from East Pakistan to India.
The Mukti Bahini, also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary and civilians during the Bangladesh Liberation War that transformed East Pakistan into Bangladesh in 1971. They were initially called the Mukti Fauj.
The Delhi Agreement was a trilateral agreement signed between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh on 28 August 1973; and ratified only by India and Pakistan. It allowed the repatriation of prisoners of war and interned officials held in the three countries after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. The agreement has been criticised for Pakistan's failure to repatriate Urdu-speakers in Bangladesh, not holding to account 195 senior military officials accused of breach of conduct during war and not making provision for a war crimes tribunal.
The Bangladesh Liberation War was a revolutionary war of independence that took place in South Asia in 1971; it resulted in the establishment of the republic of Bangladesh. The war pitted East Pakistan against West Pakistan and lasted nine months. It witnessed large-scale atrocities, the exodus of 10 million refugees and the indiscriminate killing of 100,000 to 300,000 people from both sides.
Operation Omega was a London-based group that took humanitarian aid into East Pakistan during the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. Several members of the group were arrested and two were imprisoned for their actions. Their contribution is beyond.
Bihari diaspora are people hailing from the Indian state of Bihar who resides outside of India.
while 57 [non-Bengalis] were killed in Khulna on March 5.