The South Asian: Citizenship Rights for Stateless in Pakistan, Bangladesh

January 02, 2006

Citizenship Rights for Stateless in Pakistan, Bangladesh

After the separation of Bangladesh and Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis in Bangladesh, who did not speak Bangla, were targeted. These people are called Biharis. Pakistan accepted only a small portion of them as citizens. Estimated 250,000 have been living as stateless people in camps in Bangladesh for more than a quarter of a century. There are estimated 100,000 living in Pakistan who are not recognized as citizens of Pakistan.

These people, living without citizenship, are living without rights – as slaves. Their story is a story of international political processes having failed.

Ironically, the founder of Pakistan hailed the bravery of the Biharis during a speech following the formation of Pakistan. The Associated Press quotes him from a speech on Feb 24th, 1947:
I am really proud of the Bihar Moslems who sacrificed so much. Their sacrifices will not go in vain. They have brought the Pakistan goal nearer and have shown readiness to make any sacrifice for its attainment.

Over the last couple of years, a growing community of South Asians and indeed of people around the world is demanding that Pakistan and Bangladesh proclaim citizenship rights on these people. Presenting the problems on its website, the group suggests that the solution is quite straightforward; it needs political will.

The Government of Pakistan should distribute temporary ID Cards which were prepared for the Stranded Pakistanis and are available from Rabitta Al Alam Al-Islami. Many will relocate themselves, others will be helped to relocate by relatives and charitable organizations. This can all be accomplished in just a few months at no cost to the Government of Pakistan.
• The Government of Pakistan must recognize the citizenship of all within her borders including those being denied Identity Cards who relocated themselves to Pakistan from Bangladesh.
• The Government of Bangladesh should formally recognize the citizenship of all Stranded Pakistanis who wish to remain in Bangladesh.

The group also asks the larger South Asian community, international agencies and citizens of the world for support in terms of greater public opinion and pressure on the respective governments as well as financial donations for continuation of this campaign.

More information is available at www.statelesspeopleinbangladesh.net. Syed Kamal, one of the protagonists of this campaign can be reached at qalaqund@yahoo.com

Posted by collective at January 02, 2006 12:47 PM

Comments

Thank you for being a friend of the Stateless and our cause. You are the nicest person I will ever know. May God bless you and end the suffering of the Stateless. Hope you have visited our site recently because we have added so much more content that it is now probably the leading site about stateless in Bangladesh. Call me some time 281-496-7292.
Posted by: Syed Kamal on March 11, 2006 11:46 PM

Regardless of the ins and outs of the 1971 conflict and who did what, it's ridiculous that this situation should be carrying on for so long.
Children born in bangladesh ought to be recognized as bangladeshi citizens - very simple. We certainly can't go around punishing the children for the 'sins of the fathers' or any such crap. It's just not humanitarian.

Unfortunately it seems a lot of people can't forget the 'traitor' element and feel that to give citizenship is to 'dishonour' the past efforts - which is nonsense. Obviously. I mean if anything were to be considered 'dishonourable' it would be letting the Jamaat -e-Islami getting away with sliding itself into government. But innocent children who're suffering now - we can't turn our backs on them. It's just not fair. Of course the other problem is campaigning for this - there are so many problems in bangladesh anyway - people are like - yeah what difference would it really make - citizenship - it ain't as if bangladeshi kids aren't suffering. Well that's hardly the point. Two wrongs don't make a right and all it takes is government recognition - and then people can do the best to live their lives and others can help where they want. I don't see how we Bangladeshis can go on about oh we suffered so much in 1971 and at the same time perpetuate suffering ourselves ( even if we think we have a good excuse for it) - and oh we're such a poor country - look at us and give us some help.
Posted by: sonia on July 31, 2006 04:04 AM

I think pakistan and bangladesh should be together again.
Posted by: Kamal Miah on March 1, 2007 08:50 AM

@Kamal Miah: I am a Muslim first and a Bangladeshi second. As a Bangladesh I would say no; however, as a Muslim first I would say YES, but only in a loose federation since Bangladesh is already used to autonomy.
Posted by: Sunny on February 19, 2008 06:05 PM

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