Bengali Language Movement and an economic downturn. The relatively secular attitude of East Pakistan increased tensions between the two communities and the two provinces of the country.
In the
1970 general elections Biharis predominantly supported the mostly West Pakistani Muslim League over the
Awami League In Urdu language, Awami is the adjectival form for '' Awam'', the Urdu language word for common people.
The adjective appears in the following proper names:
*Awami Colony, a neighbourhood of Landhi Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
*Awami Front, wa ...
(overwhelmingly supported by Bengalis), and played an active anti-secessionist role in the liberation war.
Biharis supported the
Pakistan Armed Forces
The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...
during the 1971
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...
, comprising majorities in armed paramilitary groups such as
Al-Shams Al-Shams is the Arabic word for "the sun" () and may refer to:
* Ash-Shams, the 91st Sura of the Quran
* Shamash, the Semitic Sun god
* Ain Shams University, a university located in Cairo, Egypt
* Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the Golan Heights (Mi ...
,
Razakars Razakar (رضا کار) is etymologically an Arabic word which literally means volunteer. The word is also common in Urdu language as a loanword. On the other hand, in Bangladesh, razakar is a pejorative word meaning a traitor or Judas.
In Pakista ...
and
Al-Badr
Al Badr is a village in Mecca Province, in western Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making ...
(held responsible for the
genocidal
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
campaign against Bengali nationalists, civilians, religious and ethnic minorities). News outlets such as the BBC have published death-toll estimates by independent researchers varying from 200,000 to 500,000. Scholars such as
R. J. Rummel
Rudolph Joseph Rummel (October 21, 1932 – March 2, 2014) was an American political scientist and professor at the Indiana University, Yale University, and University of Hawaiʻi. He spent his career studying data on collective violence and war w ...
and Matthew White estimate the total Bengali civilian death toll at 1.5 million.
The casualty figure estimated by Pakistan is 25,000, as reported by the
Hamoodur Rahman Commission
The Hamoodur Rahman Commission (otherwise known as War Enquiry Commission), was a judicial inquiry commission that assessed Pakistan's political–military involvement in East-Pakistan from 1947 to 1971. The commission was set up on 26 Decem ...
.
Having generated unrest among Bengalis,
Biharis became the target of retaliation. The Minorities at Risk project puts the number of Biharis killed during the war at 1,000;
however, R. J. Rummel cites a "likely" figure of 150,000.
Another cause of Bengali reprisal could be the collaboration of Biharis with the Pakistan Army, which participated in
mass rape of Bengalis during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Susan Brownmiller
Susan Brownmiller (born Susan Warhaftig; February 15, 1935) is an American journalist, author and feminist activist best known for her 1975 book '' Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape'', which was selected by The New York Public Library as o ...
has estimated the number of rape victims of the Pakistan Army and its collaborators during the war at 200,000 to 400,000 women and children.
Many scholars have used such events to understate, marginalize and even justify atrocities against non-Bengalis or to suppress the memory of atrocities committed against them.
Events
In early March 1971, 300 Biharis were slaughtered in rioting by Bengali mobs in
Chittagong
Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
. The massacre was used by the Pakistan Army as a justification to launch
Operation Searchlight
Operation Searchlight was the codename for a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the opera ...
against the Bengali nationalist movement.
Biharis were massacred in
Jessore
Jessore ( bn, যশোর, jôshor, ), officially Jashore, is a city of Jessore District situated in Khulna Division. It is situated in the south-western part of Bangladesh. It is the administrative centre (headquarter) of the eponymous district ...
, Panchabibi and
Khulna
Khulna ( bn, খুলনা, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of Khulna District and Khulna Division. Khulna's economy is the third-largest in Bangladesh, contributing $53 b ...
(where, in March 1972, 300 to 1,000 Biharis were killed and their bodies thrown into a nearby river).
The magnitude of anti-Bihari attacks by Bengalis throughout the war are contested. Bengali sources admit the death of a few thousand to 30,000 or 40,000 non-Bengalis.
According to a white paper released by the Pakistani government, the Awami League killed 64,000 Biharis and West Pakistanis.
R. J. Rummel, a historian with the University of Hawaii,
gives a range of 50,000 to 500,000 Biharis killed and concludes at a prudent figure of 150,000 murdered by Bengalis overall.
International estimates vary from 20,000 to 200,000. In June 1971, Bihari representatives put forward a figure of 500,000 Biharis killed by Bengalis.
Aftermath
Mukti Bahini
Allegations have been made that ''Mukti Bahini'', the Bengali resistance force, backed by Indian government, from East Pakistan, killed non-Bengalis (primarily West Pakistanis and Biharis) in the aftermath of the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Sarmila Bose
Sarmila Bose is an Indian-American journalist and academic. She has served as a senior research associate at the Centre for International Studies in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford. She is th ...
, in her book ''
Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War'', accused Bangladeshi liberation accounts of ignoring atrocities against Urdu-speaking people in East Pakistan. However, Bose's book is considered controversial. Her book was highly criticized by many historians, journalists and the writers.
Refugee crisis
The Bangladesh government announced Presidential Order 149 in 1972, offering citizenship to Biharis. According to government sources 600,000 Biharis accepted the offer, and 539,669 opted to return to Pakistan.
But according to historian Partha Ghosh approximately 470,000 Biharis out of a total of 700,000 Biharis opted to be repatriated to Pakistan through the International Red Cross.
Several groups in Pakistan have urged their government to accept the Biharis.
Surur Hoda
Surur Hoda (1928-2003), also known as M. S. Hoda, was a socialist politician and trade unionist who believed in the ideals promoted by Mahatma Gandhi.
Life
Hoda was born in Chhapra in India, on 5 May 1928 into a Muslim family. He obtained an en ...
, a Socialist leader, played an active role in solving the refugee crisis. He organized a delegation, headed by British Labour Party politician
David Ennals
David Hedley Ennals, Baron Ennals, (19 August 1922 – 17 June 1995) was a British Labour Party politician and campaigner for human rights. He served as Secretary of State for Social Services from 1976 to 1979.
Early life and military career
...
and
Ben Whitaker, which encouraged many refugees to return to Pakistan.
In a 1974 agreement, Pakistan accepted 170,000 Bihari refugees; however, the repatriation process has since stalled.
Organisations such as
Refugees International
Refugees International (RI) is an independent humanitarian organization that advocates for better support for displaced people (including refugees and internally displaced people) and stateless people. It does not accept any United Nations or gove ...
have urged both governments to "grant citizenship to the hundreds of thousands of people who remain without effective nationality".
During his 2002 trip to Bangladesh, Pakistan president
Pervez Musharraf
General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...
said he sympathised with the plight of the Biharis but could not allow them to emigrate to Pakistan.
As of 2006, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (
UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...
) had not addressed the plight of the Biharis.
On 19 May 2008, the Dhaka High Court approved citizenship and voting rights for about 150,000 refugees who were minors at the time of Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence. Those born in the country since the war also gained citizenship and the right to vote.
Immigration
Due to their initial pro-Pakistan stance, the Biharis were consistent in their wish to be repatriated to Pakistan. Initially, 83,000 Biharis (58,000 former civil servants and military personnel), members of divided families and 25,000 hardship cases were evacuated to Pakistan.
By 1974, 108,000 had been transferred to Pakistan (mainly by air); by 1981, about 163,000. Both countries have signed agreements on the repatriation of stateless people, but only a few hundred have managed to go to Pakistan.
Under the supervision of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees over 119,000 Biharis were airlifted to Pakistan.
By 1982 Pakistan had received 169,000 Biharis. Some Biharis also entered Pakistan through illegal means.
According to the UNHCR report 170,000 Biharis were repatriated after the second Delhi Agreement. In 1977, 4,790 families were repatriated; 2,800 in 1979; 7,000 in 1981; 6,000 in 1984; and 50 families in 1993. A total of approximately 178,069 Biharis were repatriated to Pakistan between 1973 and 1993.
In 1988, the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
An organization or organisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is an entity—such as a company, an institution, or an association—comprising one or more people and having a particular purpose.
The word is derived from ...
(OIC) raised about $500 million for the repatriation and rehabilitation of Biharis to Pakistan.
A special committee, the Rabita (Coordination) Trust Board, was formed by Pakistan President
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, (Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial law in ...
. It received $14 million by 1992, and was requesting additional donations from
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
and other
Gulf states for the rehabilitation of Biharis.
Land allocated to Biharis in Pakistan in one colony in
Mian Channu
Mian Channu, alternately spelled Mian Chunnun, is the capital city of Mian Channu Tehsil in Khanewal District, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan.
Etymology
The city was named after a Sufism, Sufi saint, Baba Mian Channu, who had ...
is now a slum.
The Biharis were targeted by the ethnic
Sindhi people
Sindhis ( sd, سنڌي Perso-Arabic: सिन्धी Devanagari; ) are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the province of Sindh in Pakistan. After the partition of British Indian empire in 1947, m ...
during the 1980s
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
riots. In the
Punjab province of Pakistan, ethnic
Punjabis
The Punjabis ( Punjabi: ; ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ; romanised as Panjābīs), are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. The ...
forcefully occupied shelters allocated to the Biharis.
These incidents have prompted some Biharis to return to Bangladesh.
Present conditions
Although many Biharis have assimilated into the Bengali population of Bangladesh, some opt to migrate to Pakistan and are relocated to refugee camps across Bangladesh.
According to one estimate, at least 250,000 Biharis are still in Bangladesh urban refugee camps.
The camps have become slums, the largest of which (known as "Geneva Camp", with over 25,000 people) is crowded and undeveloped; families up to 10 people typically live in a single room, one latrine is shared by 90 families and no more than five percent of the population has a formal education. Due to the lack of educational opportunity and poor living conditions, young men in the slums have set up an ''Urdu Bhashi Jubo Chhatro Shongothon'' (Urdu-Speaking Young Students Association) to increase educational opportunities in their community.
Health and sanitation problems persist due to poor drainage and sewage systems, and the economic condition of Bihari refugees has been described in news reports and academic journals as extremely poor.
2014 Kalshi clashes
In 2014, members of the ruling Awami League, aided by
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
clashed with the
members of the Urdu speaking community, in a bid to grab land, in
Mirpur. During these clashes, nine people including eight members of a family were burnt alive by Awami League and their local Bengali supporters.
The
Biharis
The Biharis () is a demonym given to the inhabitants of the Indian state of Bihar. Bihari people can be separated into three main Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic groups, Bhojpuris, Maithils and Magadhis. They are also further divided into a vari ...
blamed the attacks being directed by
Elias Mollah, the
ethnic Bengali
Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of S ...
lawmaker of Mirpur. Elias Mollah denied involvement and blamed a "vested conspiracy" against him.
Citizenship and reconciliation efforts
In May 2003, a high court ruling in Bangladesh allowed ten Bihari refugees to obtain
citizenship
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
and voting rights.
The ruling exposed a generation gap among Biharis; younger Biharis tended to be "elated", but many older people felt "despair at the enthusiasm" of the younger generation and said their true home was in Pakistan.
Many Biharis now seek greater civil rights and citizenship in Bangladesh.
On 19 May 2008, the Dhaka High Court approved citizenship and voting rights for about 150,000 refugees who were minors at the time of Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence. Those born in the country since the war also gained citizenship and the right to vote.
Several political parties campaigned in the camps for the Bihari vote during the
2008 general election, and the group was considered important to parties and candidates.
Although the court ruling explicitly said that the Biharis are eligible to register to vote in the December 2008 elections, the Election Commission closed its rolls in August 2008 without enrolling them.
"Bangladesh fails to register its Urdu-speaking citizens as voters"
. ''Thaindian''. 16 August 2008.
See also
* 1971 Bangladesh genocide
The genocide in Bangladesh began on 25 March 1971 with the launch of Operation Searchlight, as the government of Pakistan, dominated by West Pakistan, began a military crackdown on East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to suppress Bengali peopl ...
* Anti-Bihari sentiment
Anti-Bihari sentiment refers to discrimination against the migrant people of the of Bihar. Bihar had slower economic growth than the rest of India in the 1990s which led to Biharis migrating to other parts of India in search of opportunities. B ...
* Human rights in Bangladesh
Human rights in Bangladesh are enshrined as fundamental rights in Part III of the Constitution of Bangladesh. However, constitutional and legal experts believe many of the country's laws require reform to enforce fundamental rights and reflect de ...
* Stranded Pakistanis
Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh ( ur, , , bn, উদ্বাস্তু পাকিস্তানি, udbāstu pākistāni) are Urdu-speaking Muslim migrants with homelands in present-day Bihar (then part of British India) who settled ...
References
Further reading
*
Report Hamoodur-Rahman Commission
*
{{Bangladesh–Pakistan relations
Anti-Pakistan sentiment
Bangladesh–Pakistan relations
Bangladeshi war crimes
Ethnic cleansing in Asia
Human rights abuses in Bangladesh
Muhajir history
Racism in Bangladesh
Torture in Bangladesh