Bihari: From Statelessness to Citizenship
Friday, May 23, 2008
This week the Bangladesh High Court ruled that Biharis born in the country after 1971 can be granted Bangladeshi citizenship. Refugees International welcomes this positive decision which, pending final signature, will grant Biharis, or Urdu-speaking people born after the time of independence in Bangladesh, the right to be registered as voters and to receive national identity cards. This measure will allow about half of the 200-500,000 stateless Biharis, hosted by Bangladesh for 36 years, to find a remedy to their lack of an effective nationality. The decision does not cover individuals who were adults at the time of independence.
RI has long advocated for action by the governments of Bangladesh and Pakistan to end this serious human rights abuse by granting citizenship and/or permitting repatriation. RI's last mission to Bangladesh was in February 2006, when staff met with government officials and Bihari leaders to urge timely action. After the visit, U.S. Representative Diane Watson issued a letter to Assistant Secretary Ellen Sauerbrey, who was then the head of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, to press for resolution. RI president Kenneth Bacon and others requested the interim government to consider this group for inclusion in voter rolls and citizenship. On September 5, 2007, the interim government issued a decision in that regard.
In pre-independence India, the Biharis were an Urdu-speaking Muslim minority who resided in the Hindu region of Bihar. At the time of partition in 1947, some of them chose to move to East Pakistan and others to West Pakistan. When civil war broke out in 1970, the Biharis sided with West Pakistan. After the war and the independence of Bangladesh, they were unwelcome in either country. Pakistan feared that a mass influx of Biharis would destabilize an already fragile and culturally mixed population, particularly in the Sindh, where most Bihari wished to migrate. Bangladesh scorned them for supporting the enemy. With neither country offering citizenship, the Biharis (also commonly called "Bangladeshi Biharis", "stranded Pakistanis", "a linguistic minority," "Urdu-speaking stranded Pakistanis," and even just "displaced persons") have been citizens of nowhere for over three decades.
Biharis exist at the fringes of society, with their most fundamental human rights denied. They live in camp-like settlements throughout the country. Living conditions are miserable primarily due to high population density, aging accommodations, poor sanitation and hygiene, lack of education and health care facilities, and limited access to livelihoods, with most employable individuals consigned to day labor, barbering, or rickshaw pulling.
In 2003, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh granted citizenship to ten Biharis. It was a small but significant move. The September decision was the next key step to implementing that judgment. Last Sunday's announcement is another leap forward towards resolving the status of the Bihari community in Bangladesh, but only if it is signed and implemented.
We encourage the Bangladesh High Court to move as expediently as possible to finalize the process so that individuals truly benefit from the decision and also urge rapid development of a strategy to help integrate the young Biharis as citizens. RI hopes that Bangladesh will honor the choice of individuals whether or not to register to vote, and that Pakistan will offer the possibility of resettlement and citizenship for Biharis who wish to live in Pakistan, particularly those seeking family reunification.
-Maureen Lynch
RI has long advocated for action by the governments of Bangladesh and Pakistan to end this serious human rights abuse by granting citizenship and/or permitting repatriation. RI's last mission to Bangladesh was in February 2006, when staff met with government officials and Bihari leaders to urge timely action. After the visit, U.S. Representative Diane Watson issued a letter to Assistant Secretary Ellen Sauerbrey, who was then the head of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, to press for resolution. RI president Kenneth Bacon and others requested the interim government to consider this group for inclusion in voter rolls and citizenship. On September 5, 2007, the interim government issued a decision in that regard.
In pre-independence India, the Biharis were an Urdu-speaking Muslim minority who resided in the Hindu region of Bihar. At the time of partition in 1947, some of them chose to move to East Pakistan and others to West Pakistan. When civil war broke out in 1970, the Biharis sided with West Pakistan. After the war and the independence of Bangladesh, they were unwelcome in either country. Pakistan feared that a mass influx of Biharis would destabilize an already fragile and culturally mixed population, particularly in the Sindh, where most Bihari wished to migrate. Bangladesh scorned them for supporting the enemy. With neither country offering citizenship, the Biharis (also commonly called "Bangladeshi Biharis", "stranded Pakistanis", "a linguistic minority," "Urdu-speaking stranded Pakistanis," and even just "displaced persons") have been citizens of nowhere for over three decades.
Biharis exist at the fringes of society, with their most fundamental human rights denied. They live in camp-like settlements throughout the country. Living conditions are miserable primarily due to high population density, aging accommodations, poor sanitation and hygiene, lack of education and health care facilities, and limited access to livelihoods, with most employable individuals consigned to day labor, barbering, or rickshaw pulling.
In 2003, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh granted citizenship to ten Biharis. It was a small but significant move. The September decision was the next key step to implementing that judgment. Last Sunday's announcement is another leap forward towards resolving the status of the Bihari community in Bangladesh, but only if it is signed and implemented.
We encourage the Bangladesh High Court to move as expediently as possible to finalize the process so that individuals truly benefit from the decision and also urge rapid development of a strategy to help integrate the young Biharis as citizens. RI hopes that Bangladesh will honor the choice of individuals whether or not to register to vote, and that Pakistan will offer the possibility of resettlement and citizenship for Biharis who wish to live in Pakistan, particularly those seeking family reunification.
-Maureen Lynch
Labels: Bihari, statelessness
