Forgotten Pakistani citizens languishing in Bangladesh
The writer is former Dean Faculty of Social Science, University of Karachi and can be reached at amoons@hotmail.com
The ‘forgotten’ citizens of Pakistan stranded in Bangladesh for over half a century have lost hope of returning to their declared country. Living in more than 100 makeshift camps all over Bangladesh since the fall of Dhaka on December 16, 1971, around 350,000 stranded Pakistanis, also called Biharis, must be thinking that while more than 3 million Afghan refugees were hosted by Islamabad for decades, those in Bangladesh who expressed their allegiance to Pakistan remain in a miserable condition.
If Pakistan can accommodate millions of Afghan refugees, why was it unable to bring back only 350,000 people from Bangladesh who despite their ordeals proved their loyalty for Pakistan? Now when the Government of Pakistan ordered all illegal aliens, including Afghans, to leave the country, the question is: why have the stranded Pakistanis, languishing in Red Cross Camps in Bangladesh since 1972, not been repatriated yet? Is the chapter of Pakistan’s ‘forgotten’ citizens closed or there is still some hope that the authorities will revisit this issue?
No control was enforced on Afghan refugees who entered Pakistan after the Soviet invasion in December 1979. They were allowed to live wherever in the country they wanted; obtain CNIC, passport and other such documents; and start businesses at the expense of local people. After more than four decades now, the government has finally decided to deport those living illegally in the country. Incompetence and corruption which is rooted the in Pakistani society and state organs enabled Afghan refugees to obtain legal status by seeking documents of citizenship. Their support base in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provided them space to destabilise Pakistani society by indulging in sectarian violence, crime, narco trade and smuggling of weapons and other items. Known for their liability and disloyalty in a country which gave them refuge, Afghans in Pakistan became a source of embarrassment and shame.
Unlike the baggage of Afghan refugees, around 200,000 non-Bengalese, commonly called Biharis — who were brought back to Pakistan as a result of a tripartite agreement involving Pakistan, India and Bangladesh in 1973 — made their place in their new country by sheer hardwork and dedication. They were neither involved in crimes nor in any other anti-social activity. However, more than 350,000 of them are still languishing in Red Cross campus in Bangladesh because Islamabad refused to take back all of them. After 52 years, these ‘forgotten’ citizens of Pakistan remind one of the bitter legacy of the civil war in the then East Pakistan that led to the emergence of Bangladesh. Their third generation has grown up in camps and still expresses their allegiance to Pakistan because of the sacrifices their elders rendered to save their country. As mentioned, 200,000 non-Bengalese were repatriated to Pakistan in 1974 in return for a similar number of Bengalese who opted to go to Bangladesh. The remaining 350,000 non-Bengalese were not taken back by Pakistan, arguing that it has fulfilled its commitment according to the Delhi agreement of 1973.
The legality of the claim made by the Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh that they have a right to return to their country needs to be examined from three ways.
First, the Government of Pakistan and some sections of society, particularly in Sindh, argue that a majority of those languishing in the camps since 1972 have passed away during the last 52 years and that the government has already taken around 250,000 of them in 1974. Those born in the camps after 1971 are allowed by the Government of Bangladesh to exercise their right to franchise which means they owe their allegiance to Bangladesh rather than Pakistan.
Second, the fact that there are some 100 refugee camps of Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh under the Red Cross means that legally they have a right to return to their claimed country. In the year 1988, the Government of Pakistan and World Muslim League (Rabita-e Alam-e Islami) had signed an agreement to establish a fund for the repatriation of the stranded Pakistanis from Bangladesh. The Government of Pakistan contributed Rs250 million and the World Muslim League Rs50 million to that fund. An amount of $50,000 was also donated by Lord Annals, a British national who was actively engaged in the repatriation of the stranded Pakistanis. Ironically, the fund with HBL now has Rs2.5 billion but it remains unutilised because of the US suspicion following 9/11 that the money in that fund was used for terrorism. The allegation is dismissed as untrue by Mr Ehtesham Arshad Nizami, a founder member and Secretary General of the US-based ‘Friends of Humanity’ which focuses on highlighting the plight of the Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh and for their honourable return. Unfortunately, then President General Pervez Musharraf came under American pressure to freeze the fund. Thus the matter of financial assistance for repatriation of the stranded Pakistanis remains on the backburner.
In 1992, an agreement was reached between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh to repatriate the stranded Pakistanis. Nawaz also announced that the repatriated people would be settled in Punjab. The responsibility for arranging the resettlement was given to the then Chief Minister of Punjab, Ghulam Haider Wayne. In early 1993, a couple of hundred stranded Pakistanis were settled in Mian Chunnu town of Punjab but with the dismissal of Sharif’s government in April 1993, the matter came to an end. Twice after that did Nawaz became Prime Minister — in 1997 and 2013 — but he failed to honour his commitment.
Third, the humanitarian issue of the stranded Pakistanis was politicised by the MQM. The party used to insist every government to bring back the stranded Pakistanis to their country of loyalty. But, it merely used it for political purposes and later abandoned the cause for good.
It seems to be the curse of the stranded Pakistanis living in sub-human conditions in Bangladesh that Pakistan has not been able to stabilise since 1972. When more than 3 million Afghan refugees can be provided shelter despite their disloyal behaviour to Pakistan, why can’t the 350,000 loyal Pakistanis stranded on a foreign land be brought back? The state of Pakistan must take up the humanitarian issue on an urgent basis and launch the process of bringing back its forgotten loyal citizens who would have been an asset rather than a liability.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 21st, 2023.
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