Thatcher Hullerman Cook
12/23/2004

In November, Refugees International sent a team to investigate the conditions for the Bihari, like this woman and her child. The Bihari have ties with Pakistan and Bangladesh, but both countries have refused to offer full protection and citizenship to these people. During the East Pakistan struggle for independence in the 1970s, the Biharis sided with West Pakistan However, following India's military intervention, which helped create Bangladesh, violence flared between the two groups. The Biharis were stripped of their property and thousands were jailed. For the past two decades some 300,000 Biharis have lived in 66 camps throughout Bangladesh where they suffer discrimination and poor conditions.