Nilgiri
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You're a good poster, and I appreciate that. But, with all due respect, this particular post is inaccurate and misleading.
Most of them did support the military. But not all did.
After the war was over, not all demanded to be repatriated to Pakistan. Most did not, in fact. And before the war, many did not hold favorable views of West Pakistan.
Pakistan took in many Biharis after the war. However, many Bengalis immigrated illegally from Bangladesh to Pakistan during the 1980s and early 1990s. Between 2-3 million of them are currently residing illegally in Pakistan. Pakistan has tried to deport some of these immigrants, but Bangladesh has refused to accept them.
A few of them even want to go back. Why should Pakistan consider taking in any Biharis at all if Bangladesh is unwilling to take back their own citizens (ethnic Bengalis) who illegally migrated to Pakistan?
tribune.com.pk/story/460370/bengalis-afraid-of-losing-their-identity-and-rights/
Firstly, only those born after 1971 are eligible for citizenship. Any Biharis born before the war of 1971 are not. Because they are ineligible to obtain Bangladeshi citizenship, it's not surprising that some of them identify as Pakistani. What choice do they have? Offer them citizenship, and most would accept it.
More importantly though, even those eligible for citizenship (born after the war) are unable to obtain legal documents to prove their citizenship. This severely limits their options as "citizens" of the country.
"Despite a law introduced in 2008 that guarantees citizenship for Bihari refugees, they face serious obstacles to obtaining citizenship documents such as passports and birth certificates"
http://archive.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2015/jul/05/dcs-asked-find-land-relocate-biharis
"One the first major issues dealt with by the paralegals was the passport application problem. Government officials still clung to the notion that passport applications using camp address would not comply with the legal requirements of the government. They also said that they have written instructions not to issue passports to Biharis.
The paralegals did the inquiry with the government officials on this problem. A petition with the Home Ministry asking for information on the issuance of passport to Biharis did not receive a response. But a right to information petition with the Information Commission resulted in the release by the Home Ministry of a six-page document on passport issuance. The Home Ministry released the document before a scheduled hearing of the Information Commission on the petition was held. The document confirmed that camp dwellers with national identity card could get passports. Armed with the Home Ministry document, the paralegals went back to assisting fellow Biharis re-apply for passports with the government office that rejected their applications earlier.
But some passport applications were rejected still on the same ground of camp address despite Home Ministry regulation to the contrary. Biharis filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh to protest this situation. The National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh issued five letters to the Home Ministry since May 2015, but the Ministry has not sent any answer yet."
http://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/...haris-on-becoming-citizens-of-bangladesh.html
Not true. Leaving the camps would mean leaving the only place where they have a roof over their heads. As utterly deplorable these camps are, they are still preferable to being homeless. Most would like to shift outside of these camps, but the government is dragging its feet on the issue. It has promised to provide them land to allow them to move out of these camps (as recently as 2015 by none other than Sheikh Hasina herself), but nothing has been done so far:
"In April this year, a delegation of the Biharis met PM Sheikh Hasina and she promised to shift them to suitable locations outside Dhaka."
"We are yet find suitable land outside Dhaka for shifting the Bihari camps,” he said.
http://archive.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2015/jul/05/dcs-asked-find-land-relocate-biharis
"A serious allegation that comes from the youths inside the camps is that they highly suffer in finding suitable jobs, not because of a lack of qualifications, but because of the word “Camp.”
“I am pursuing BBA. One day I would like to work in a bank or in a reputed company. But the employers hesitate in recruiting us. For that many end up in jobs that are way below their. Like job of a receptionist or a teacher at any local kindergarten,” says Fatema.
Md Aftab Alam, 22, student of Northern University and resident of the same camp, says he went for an interview for a part-time job at a renowned retail outlet in the capital. However, immediately after realising he belongs to the so-called ‘Bihari’ community, the interviewer showed him the way out of the room. “Maybe I at least got the call because I mentioned my address as ‘Zakir Hossain Road, Mohammadpur’ not ‘Town Hall Bihari camp’,” says Aftab.
Both Fatema and Aftab claim the word ‘camp’ is like a blemish on their identity for running day-to-day activities smoothly. For any official purpose they put the address of any ‘Bangali’ friend or neighbour living near the camp."
“If our younger brothers go to the nearby field to play in the evening, they won’t be allowed in. The teams that come to play there would say, ‘you are stranded Pakistanis, why have you come here?’ After working or studying the whole day, the young people can’t even get a proper bathroom or go play in the field,” he adds.
When asked about his identity, he says: “We consider ourselves as Bangali, but unfortunately the Bangalis consider us as Biharis.”
"MD Sadeq, 18, studied in the Kaderia Madrasa nearby the camp up to class eight. He says: “We faced huge problems while getting admission in the madrasa. They said they would not admit any child from the camp. They said ‘you speak Urdu, you live inside the camp, what will you do by studying?'".
“If we cannot get a good job or education because of our address, then how would we be able to go outside the camp and make a better living?” they explain.
http://archive.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/nov/01/generation-shadows
False. They are citizens of Bangladesh (if they were born after 1971) and must be treated as such per the Supreme Court of Bangladesh:
"As the court explained: 2
We do not think that only because of the concentration of Urdu speaking people, who were citizens of the [erstwhile] East Pakistan [in] the so called Geneva camp has attained any special status so as to be excluded from the operation of the laws of the land including the said President Order, the Electoral Rolls Ordinance, 1982 or the Citizenship Act, 1951. So mere residence of the first group of the petitioners at the Geneva Camp cannot be termed as allegiance to another state by conduct."
http://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/...haris-on-becoming-citizens-of-bangladesh.html
False. They can, and still expect to be treated as citizens per the Supreme Court of Bangladesh:
"The Supreme Court cited its previous decisions to stress that one who applied for repatriation to Pakistan, or "even a diehard pro-Pakistani born in this country is entitled to be citizen of Bangladesh if he fulfills the requirements under Article 2 and is not disqualified under clause (1) of Article 2B." 3"
http://www.hurights.or.jp/archives/...haris-on-becoming-citizens-of-bangladesh.html
Just because most Biharis are eligible for citizenship, does not mean that they have obtained it. Nor are they "choosing" to live in their camps. And they continue to face widespread discrimination in their country because they aren't truly considered Bangladeshi by many, if not most, Bengalis of the in the country.
@nilgiri @Arefin007 @hiptullha
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
I will follow what you both have to say about it. I know its a touchy issue that really should be resolved responsibly by all sides.