Bring them home: Stranded Pakistanis in BD again in spotlight

Some 300,000 people living in appalling conditions still hoist Pakistani flag, SC hears


Hasnaat Malik February 19, 2015
Some 300,000 people living in appalling conditions still hoist Pakistani flag, SC hears. PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has expressed annoyance with the ministry of foreign affairs and cabinet division for not filing replies regarding the possible repatriation of 300,000 Pakistanis currently stranded in Bangladesh. The court has given seven days to the ministries for filing their comments. In case of failing to do so, secretaries of both departments have been told to appear in person.

The three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, was hearing a petition filed by the Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee of Bangladesh. During the
hearing, Deputy Attorney General Sohail Mahmood told the bench that despite contacting them several times, no replies from both the ministries have been received.

He, however, submitted the interior ministry’s reply, wherein it is stated that the ministry of foreign affairs will be in a better position to respond regarding the repatriation of 300,000 Pakistanis stranded in some 70 camps in Bangladesh.

The reply stated that under clause (i) of sub section (1) of section 16-A of the Pakistan citizenship Act 1951, all those persons in those territories, which before December 16, 1971 constituted the province of East Pakistan, residing since that day, voluntarily or otherwise, shall cease to be citizens of Pakistan.

It also states, however, that the persons who have not been repatriated before March 18, 1978, and whose repatriation has been agreed by the federal government, shall continue to be citizens of Pakistan as provided under provision to clause (iv) of sub section 1 of section 16-A of the Citizenship Act 1951.

During the course of the proceedings, Muhammad Aftab Director of the Cabinet Division told the bench that in 2003, Bangladesh high court had declared stranded Pakistanis as citizen of Bangladesh, and the Supreme Court had also ratified this.

The bench asked him to file a written reply in this regard. The hearing of case is adjourned for indefinite period.

Earlier, Rashidul Qazi, counsel for the petitioner, highlighted the appalling conditions that the stranded Pakistanis were facing in Bangladesh. “They were thrown out of employment and their properties and assets were either frozen by the [Bangladesh] government or looted by miscreants,” he said.

Qazi stressed that they were still citizens of Pakistan and despite the ‘sub-human’ conditions they had been subjected to, they still proudly hoisted the Pakistani flag. “They were offered the Bangladeshi citizenship, but they refused to accept it,” he stated. “The attitude of Pakistani rulers, political stalwarts and army generals has been deplorable towards the issue of stranded Pakistanis.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2015.

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