JEDDAH, 16 December 2003 — A quarter of a million Pakistanis have spent more than three decades of their lives in 66 camps across Bangladesh because they sided with the Pakistan Army in 1971.
Things have gone from bad to worse for them. In 2003, some of their shanties were demolished and the NGO that provided aid for them was cut off because of restrictions as part of the war on terror.
The Rabitha Trust, the main organization assigned to organize their repatriation and rehabilitation, remains frozen although an audit by M/S Fergusson has cleared it of any wrongdoing.
The meager monthly aid for each family — 2.5 kilograms of wheat — comes from the International Islamic Relief Organization (the welfare wing of the Muslim World League), which also maintains a few clinics and schools in the camps. The Islamic Development Bank distributes the meat of 5,000 sheep every year during Eid Al-Adha. That is likely to be increased to 10,000 in 2004. But that is all.
The Pakistan Repatriation Council has mooted a proposal for the repatriation of the stranded people on a self-help basis. The proposal envisages giving the head of each stranded Pakistani family Pakistani nationality. This, according to the PRC, will enable the man to find a job and move to Pakistan on his own. Families could follow once the men are able to provide for them.
A French lawyer, Francis Lamand, presented the PRC proposal to President Pervez Musharraf in Paris. Earlier, he discussed the proposal with Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar in Islamabad. He also met the Bangladeshi high commissioner there.
President Musharraf, During his visit to Dhaka last year, met Naseem Khan, the head of the Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee and promised to look into the issue.
