DHAKA, 7 September 2007 — Nearly half of about 300,000 Urdu-speaking “Bihari” Muslims awaiting repatriation to Pakistan for over 36 years may be granted Bangladeshi citizenship ahead of elections next year, a senior government official said yesterday.
The Urdu-speaking Muslims, who migrated to former East Pakistan following the partition of the British-ruled subcontinent in 1947, sided with the Pakistan army during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence.
“We are considering to give citizenships to about 140,000 Biharis who were either born in Bangladesh or have expressed loyalty to us,” said Mohammad Mohsin, a Home Ministry official.
He said the rest of the Biharis, also known as “stranded Pakistanis,” would continue to wait for an agreement on their fate.a
Most have been living for decades in crammed, squalid refugee camps in Dhaka and other towns run by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Bangladeshi government.
But the new generation Biharis, who say they do not belong to Pakistan nor want to go there, have for years urged the Dhaka government to accept them as Bangladeshis — despite objections from their parents and grandparents.
If the process is completed soon, the Urdu-speaking Bangladeshis will be eligible to vote in the country’s next elections, officials said.
They will receive voter ID cards with photos as well as national identity cards, Mohsin said. Bangladesh’s army-backed interim government, headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, has pledged to hold free and fair parliamentary polls before the end of 2008.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Repatriation Council Convener Ehsanul Haque welcomed the Bangladeshi government move to offer citizenship to 140,000 stranded Pakistanis. “Our thanks goes to the Bangladesh government for this humanitarian gesture,” he said.
“But it is the duty of the Pakistani government to help the stranded Pakistanis,” he added. “I would urge those who wish to assimilate into the Bangladeshi society to take this offer,” he said, adding: “Those who have the patience and courage to stay on in the camps should continue to press for the acquisition of legitimate Pakistani citizenship.”
“I would also urge President Pervez Musharaf to fulfill his promise to SPGRC chairman, the late Mohammad Naseem Khan, in July 2003 to help repatriate the stranded Pakistanis. I would also urge the president to reactivate the Rabita Trust so that those who are still living in the camps can he assisted,” he said.
