Rohingya Burmese are acceptable but not stranded Bihari Pakistanis - Shame on GoP

[syedali73]

Can anyone explain why Bangladesh is not hosting rohinga muslims?

Pakistani Bihari is just used to score point, they are Bangladeshis citizens. While Rohingas muslims are being persucuted right now and Pakistan have always opened gates to millions refugees.

Which history you read? written in India? shame on you for these callous and ridiculous comments.

Stranded Pakistanis' living in camps in Bangladesh – in pictures


Bangladesh’s Urdu-speaking minority community, sometimes known as Biharis, are consigned to live in camps for ‘stranded Pakistanis’ that were set up in 1971, during the establishment of the Bangladeshi state, even though they have no roots in modern Pakistan. They often live in dire conditions, facing discrimination from mainstream society. Legal aid NGO Namati is trying to help them gain access to citizenship.

1. Staff camp, Dhaka. There are about 300,000 Urdu-speaking people living in camps for stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh. The camps date from 1971, when fighting during the establishment of the Bangladeshi state forced the Urdu-speaking minority into these supposedly temporary dwellings. All photographs: Bremen Donovan/Namati.

2. Geneva camp, Dhaka. Many ancestors of the Urdu-speaking minority came from Bihar, India, during the partition in 1947. The camps’ residents are referred to as Bihari, which is a loaded term in Bangladesh. Some trace their ancestry back not to Bihar, but to other regions in India and present-day Pakistan.

3. In many of the Bihari camps in Dhaka, the floors are weak and prone to crumbling. Gaps in the walls and under the stairways expose rusted structural steel and rotting concrete. Electrical lines hang in webs above the hallways and are perilously frayed.

4. Many Biharis are increasingly able to pass as mainstream Bangladeshis. This gives them access to housing and services such as education – and a better chance of acquiring citizenship documents. But for Urdu speakers, ‘passing’ in order to get the basic rights granted by law means abandoning their culture.

5. Mymensingh camp, Dhaka. Urdu speakers have suffered discrimination and extreme poverty since the country’s war of liberation. 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.

6. The conditions in the camp are dire. Houses are separated by two-foot (61cm) wide passageways shared by residents, goats and chickens. Houses are tiny, usually less than 8x8ft, and host entire families. Residents raise their beds to make space for possessions underneath. When it rains, the camp floods, toilets included.

7. In 2013, the legal empowerment organisation Namati partnered the Council on Minorities, a local rights group, to provide services to people seeking citizenship documents. Since last June, 10 paralegals and three volunteers have been trained to work across all the country’s camps and have assisted almost 1,500 stateless people.

8. Nahid Parvin, 20, is a paralegal working for the Urdu-speaking community in Dhaka. She says her work has changed her life. Although she is young, she has experienced a lot of respect from her community. “Everyone says salam, and they call me madame,” she says. Parvin feels inspired to continue her work in development by training as a social worker.

'Stranded Pakistanis' living in camps in Bangladesh – in pictures | Global development | The Guardian

 

[Raja.Pakistani]

Where is world who was chanting malala Malala? They dont see suffering of these malalaz in burma?

 

[Indus Falcon]

Biharis are fully integrated now in Bengali society.

Pakistani Bihari is just used to score point, they are Bangladeshis citizens.

Sir, they are not. They still live in refugee camps in squalid conditions, and are treated like animals. A good majority of them, still do not have BD ID cards, unlike what this thread might have you believing.

They are not Bengali's but "Stranded Pakistanis" like @DESERT FIGHTER rightly said!

Secondly, they deserve our help as much as the Rohingyas. To ignore their plight and suffering is nothing less then a crime! The only reason they suffer today is because they choose to stand with Pakistan in 1971.

Can anyone explain why Bangladesh is not hosting rohinga muslims?
.

Make a wild guess?

 

[syedali73]

9. Parvin, who is from the Bihari community, has basic law and mediation training. She works as a grassroots advocate, helping people apply for identity documents. Parvin suffered discrimination growing up: ‘Teachers would say, “Oh, you’re from the camps, you killed our forefathers in ‘71.” I didn’t say anything,’ she says. ‘But I cried all the time’.

10. For women, the prospect of travelling by foot or public transport to deal with officials and exchange money is intimidating. The community faces rejection or bribe requests when applying for ID documents. But for some it is worth the risk, as a Bangladeshi passport allows residents to work abroad and send back remittances.

11. Parvin takes a group of women to apply for ID documents. Namati collects data on applications to identify bottlenecks in the system and cases of discrimination. It then makes policy recommendations to the Bangladesh government. Parvin’s work has the potential to benefit up to 300,000 people struggling to gain identity documents.

12. Camp residents apply for ID cards in Dhaka. In some city corporation offices, uncooperative officials reject the majority of Urdu-speakers’ cases. In other areas, the process is more reliable. For camp residents younger than mid-40s, Bangladesh is the only country they have ever known.

13. Files pile up in a city corporation office. By tracking cases Namati and the Council on Minorities already have better data than the government detailing cases of discrimination and delays in receiving citizenship documents.

14. Parvin walks with Farzana Naz, a young mother from the Urdu-speaking minority. Naz has applied for a passport so she can take a job as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia to support her daughters through the rest of their schooling. Parvin is helping with her case.

'Stranded Pakistanis' living in camps in Bangladesh – in pictures | Global development | The Guardian

 

[Indus Falcon]

Which history you read? written in India? shame on you for these callous and ridiculous comments.

Stranded Pakistanis' living in camps in Bangladesh – in pictures


Bangladesh’s Urdu-speaking minority community, sometimes known as Biharis, are consigned to live in camps for ‘stranded Pakistanis’ that were set up in 1971, during the establishment of the Bangladeshi state, even though they have no roots in modern Pakistan. They often live in dire conditions, facing discrimination from mainstream society. Legal aid NGO Namati is trying to help them gain access to citizenship.

View attachment 228343

1. Staff camp, Dhaka. There are about 300,000 Urdu-speaking people living in camps for stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh. The camps date from 1971, when fighting during the establishment of the Bangladeshi state forced the Urdu-speaking minority into these supposedly temporary dwellings. All photographs: Bremen Donovan/Namati.

View attachment 228344

2. Geneva camp, Dhaka. Many ancestors of the Urdu-speaking minority came from Bihar, India, during the partition in 1947. The camps’ residents are referred to as Bihari, which is a loaded term in Bangladesh. Some trace their ancestry back not to Bihar, but to other regions in India and present-day Pakistan.

View attachment 228345

3. In many of the Bihari camps in Dhaka, the floors are weak and prone to crumbling. Gaps in the walls and under the stairways expose rusted structural steel and rotting concrete. Electrical lines hang in webs above the hallways and are perilously frayed.

View attachment 228346

4. Many Biharis are increasingly able to pass as mainstream Bangladeshis. This gives them access to housing and services such as education – and a better chance of acquiring citizenship documents. But for Urdu speakers, ‘passing’ in order to get the basic rights granted by law means abandoning their culture.

View attachment 228347

5. Mymensingh camp, Dhaka. Urdu speakers have suffered discrimination and extreme poverty since the country’s war of liberation. 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.

View attachment 228348

6. The conditions in the camp are dire. Houses are separated by two-foot (61cm) wide passageways shared by residents, goats and chickens. Houses are tiny, usually less than 8x8ft, and host entire families. Residents raise their beds to make space for possessions underneath. When it rains, the camp floods, toilets included.

View attachment 228349

7. In 2013, the legal empowerment organisation Namati partnered the Council on Minorities, a local rights group, to provide services to people seeking citizenship documents. Since last June, 10 paralegals and three volunteers have been trained to work across all the country’s camps and have assisted almost 1,500 stateless people.

View attachment 228350

8. Nahid Parvin, 20, is a paralegal working for the Urdu-speaking community in Dhaka. She says her work has changed her life. Although she is young, she has experienced a lot of respect from her community. “Everyone says salam, and they call me madame,” she says. Parvin feels inspired to continue her work in development by training as a social worker.

'Stranded Pakistanis' living in camps in Bangladesh – in pictures | Global development | The Guardian

Simply heartbreaking!!!

All because they choose to stand with Pakistan !!!

 

[syedali73]

Simply heartbreaking!!!

All because they choose to stand with Pakistan !!!

And more heartbreaking is, except perhaps you and myself nobody is talking about them. This callous we have become as a nation. We are willing to accept those who practically voted against Pakistan in the UN (Afghanistan), we are willing to accept those who had no role in Pakistan movement (Dr. Khan Saheb, brother of Bacha Khan refused to attend independence ceremony as the head of NWFP provincial government), and never accepted her as their nation but we are not ready to take back those who shed their blood alongside our troops in 1971, who became refugees in their own country, who lost everything in their home.

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

The Biharis are not being slaughtered like the Rohyngas----.

And just because I sinned yesterday does not mean that I should be held back to help others in my present---.

Simply heartbreaking!!!

All because they choose to stand with Pakistan !!!

Hi,

I had a very well off Bangladeshi friend in college here in the U S-----my roommate for awhile actually---that was in 1983---. He would say that the biharis had been given the opportunity to be with main stream Bangladesh---but the had chosen not to.

 

[Raja.Pakistani]

And more heartbreaking is, except perhaps you and myself nobody is talking about them. This callous we have become as a nation. We are willing to accept those who practically voted against Pakistan in the UN (Afghanistan), we are willing to accept those who had no role in Pakistan movement (Dr. Khan Saheb, brother of Bacha Khan refused to attend independence ceremony as the head of NWFP provincial government), and never accepted her as their nation but we are not ready to take back those who shed their blood alongside our troops in 1971, who became refugees in their own country, who lost everything in their home.

Dude we should look at this situation from humanity/Muslim perspective and its sad to see Muslim in suffering whethe they are bihari in Bangladesh or rohingya in Burma.

 

[syedali73]

Hi,

The Biharis are not being slaughtered like the Rohyngas----.

And just because I sinned yesterday does not mean that I should be held back to help others in my present---.

Hi,

I had a very well off Bangladeshi friend in college here in the U S-----my roommate for awhile actually---that was in 1983---. He would say that the biharis had been given the opportunity to be with main stream Bangladesh---but the had chosen not to.

Biharis were given an option to let go their identity and become Bengalis; this is easier said than done especially in a time when there was perhaps some glimmer of hope (Mard-e-Momin was in power). Charity begins at home and you know it very well. We tend to attend unfinished business first and then move on to take up the new task. Stranded Biharis are our own people, who are waiting to come back home and it is more than 40 years now. Only if things would happen logically, they would have been brought back home before inviting millions of thankless Afghans and now Rohingya.

Dude we should look at this situation from humanity/Muslim perspective and its sad to see Muslim in suffering whethe they are bihari in Bangladesh or rohingya in Burma.

You are in a situation where your brother is needed to be taken to hospital and you are attending your neighbors; it is not the attending neighbors is a bad thing but preference goes to your brother who is in your house and needed to be taken to hospital. Charity begins at home, even in Quran it is mentioned like this. Zawil Qurba, wal Yutama, wal Masakeen. Begin with those who are your relatives, than attend orphans, then attend Masakeen and so forth. Situation is such that people of Karachi have no water to drink, the water reservoir is all time low, the population is soared. How on earth are we going to sustain additional million or so Rohingya? Karachi is on brink of civil war perhaps you are not gauging the anger that is brewing due to heat, scarcity of water, absence of electricity etc.

 

[Indus Falcon]

Take the million bengalis back and give us the bihari Pakistanis. Fair deal?

Very good deal. Unfortunately no one has the guts to implement it.

Hi,

The Biharis are not being slaughtered like the Rohyngas----.

And just because I sinned yesterday does not mean that I should be held back to help others in my present---.




Hi,

I had a very well off Bangladeshi friend in college here in the U S-----my roommate for awhile actually---that was in 1983---. He would say that the biharis had been given the opportunity to be with main stream Bangladesh---but the had chosen not to.

The Rohingyas deserve our help, but the Urdu speaking stranded Pakistanis a.k.a. Biharis deserve it as well !!!

We should NOT forget those who stood by our troops, stood by us in 1971, and subsequently lost their lands, homes, everything to be confined to squalid camps to date. Just because they refused to accept Bangladesh in 1971. In return Bangladesh is making them suffer to date!

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

I think that if we deport our afghan brothers----we can make room for the Biharis and Rohyngas as well.

 

[Kabira]

Which history you read? written in India? shame on you for these callous and ridiculous comments.

Stranded Pakistanis' living in camps in Bangladesh – in pictures


Bangladesh’s Urdu-speaking minority community, sometimes known as Biharis, are consigned to live in camps for ‘stranded Pakistanis’ that were set up in 1971, during the establishment of the Bangladeshi state, even though they have no roots in modern Pakistan. They often live in dire conditions, facing discrimination from mainstream society. Legal aid NGO Namati is trying to help them gain access to citizenship.

View attachment 228343

1. Staff camp, Dhaka. There are about 300,000 Urdu-speaking people living in camps for stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh. The camps date from 1971, when fighting during the establishment of the Bangladeshi state forced the Urdu-speaking minority into these supposedly temporary dwellings. All photographs: Bremen Donovan/Namati.

View attachment 228344

2. Geneva camp, Dhaka. Many ancestors of the Urdu-speaking minority came from Bihar, India, during the partition in 1947. The camps’ residents are referred to as Bihari, which is a loaded term in Bangladesh. Some trace their ancestry back not to Bihar, but to other regions in India and present-day Pakistan.

View attachment 228345

3. In many of the Bihari camps in Dhaka, the floors are weak and prone to crumbling. Gaps in the walls and under the stairways expose rusted structural steel and rotting concrete. Electrical lines hang in webs above the hallways and are perilously frayed.

View attachment 228346

4. Many Biharis are increasingly able to pass as mainstream Bangladeshis. This gives them access to housing and services such as education – and a better chance of acquiring citizenship documents. But for Urdu speakers, ‘passing’ in order to get the basic rights granted by law means abandoning their culture.

View attachment 228347

5. Mymensingh camp, Dhaka. Urdu speakers have suffered discrimination and extreme poverty since the country’s war of liberation. 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.

View attachment 228348

6. The conditions in the camp are dire. Houses are separated by two-foot (61cm) wide passageways shared by residents, goats and chickens. Houses are tiny, usually less than 8x8ft, and host entire families. Residents raise their beds to make space for possessions underneath. When it rains, the camp floods, toilets included.

View attachment 228349

7. In 2013, the legal empowerment organisation Namati partnered the Council on Minorities, a local rights group, to provide services to people seeking citizenship documents. Since last June, 10 paralegals and three volunteers have been trained to work across all the country’s camps and have assisted almost 1,500 stateless people.

View attachment 228350

8. Nahid Parvin, 20, is a paralegal working for the Urdu-speaking community in Dhaka. She says her work has changed her life. Although she is young, she has experienced a lot of respect from her community. “Everyone says salam, and they call me madame,” she says. Parvin feels inspired to continue her work in development by training as a social worker.

'Stranded Pakistanis' living in camps in Bangladesh – in pictures | Global development | The Guardian

You can find worst pictures then those from poor of Pakistan. Shame on you for playing politics over rohinga refugees. Read what Bangladeshis have to say about biharis, they are not persecuted at all and no one will bring them to Pakistan.

 

[syedali73]

The Rohingyas deserve our help, but the Urdu speaking stranded Pakistanis a.k.a. Biharis deserve it as well !!!

We should NOT forget those who stood by our troops, stood by us in 1971, and subsequently lost their lands, homes, everything to be confined to squalid camps to date. Just because they refused to accept Bangladesh in 1971. In return Bangladesh is making them suffer to date!

Rohingya Muslims are responsibility of entire ummah that includes Pakistan but stranded Pakistanis are solely our, Pakistan's responsibility. They are our people who we have left behind. You are a soldier and you know wounded comrades are never left behind, never ever.

You can find worst pictures then those from poor of Pakistan. Shame on you for playing politics over rohinga refugees. Read what Bangladeshis have to say about biharis, they are not persecuted at all.

Shame on you for taking the words of oppressors against the words of victims. You are clueless about the issue yet have audacity to vomit nonsense. Biharis are racially discriminated in Bangladesh and you are oblivious of this fact.

Real life stories
Khalid Hussain, an Urdu-speaking Bihari in Bangladesh

Khalid Hussain is a Bihari from Bangladesh. He describes the Urdu speaking Biharis as the most disadvantaged group in Bangladesh because they are not recognized as citizens in the country they regard as their home.

Hussain brought the story of the Biharis to the special event, Voices: ‘Everyone affected by racism has a story that should be heard’, at the Durban Review Conference in Geneva. He told his audience that since the partition of Pakistan in 1971, more than three hundred thousand Bihari people have been living in makeshift camps all over Bangladesh.

Hussain lives in the Geneva camp, set up by the International Committee of the Red Cross, in 1971 and named after the organisation’s Swiss headquarters. One of the largest in Bangladesh, the Geneva camp is home to around 25 thousand people who live in houses measuring on average 13 square metres which accommodate 5 to 8 people. For the entire camp there are 250 public toilets.

"As Biharis," Hussain says, "we have no access to any means of survival in society - socially, culturally and economically."

His own story is typical. On completion of primary school, he and other students tried to enrol at the local high school but were refused. Their only option was a private school which most could not afford.

At the private school, the Bihari students were treated as a race apart. "I remember my first day of school. All the Bengali students were looking at us as if we were strangers and they were whispering to each other that we are Bihari and that we live in dirty camps…We were marginalised in the classroom and we had to sit in a separate row."

Khalid described the extreme difficulty Biharis experience trying to access employment and escape poverty. "Not only are we denied all government positions but also due to our addresses in the camps and our undefined legal status, wider discrimination in the job market remains a prime concern."

"As a result," he said, "the vast majority of Biharis are pushed into the informal sector, working as rickshaw-pullers, drivers, butchers, barbers, mechanics and craft workers".

A group of Biharis, including Hussain, did achieve an historic breakthrough in 2003 when they challenged the election commission’s refusal to include them on the voter listing. The Bangladeshi High Court ruled that the people in the camps "are Bangladeshi".

Despite that advance, Hussain believes the situation of the Biharis has worsened. "Intolerance on the part of mainstream civil society has increased. There has been very little interest amongst the mainstream human rights organizations, legal aid bodies or women and children’s organizations…Voices need to be raised," he said.

Hussain concluded by talking of tolerance and appealing for a change of attitude which would reduce the discrimination endured by his community.

"I trust," he said, "that one day we will see a world free of racism, racial discrimination and intolerance."

Real life story of Khalid Hussain, an Urdu-speaking Bihari in Bangladesh - Let's Fight Racism!

 

[VCheng]

It can be true, if somebody pays for it. There is no money to be made in resettling in Karachi the stranded Pakistanis from Bangladesh.

I made the first mention of stranded Pakistanis in this thread. Post #7.

 

[Indus Falcon]

Hi,

I think that if we deport our afghan brothers----we can make room for the Biharis and Rohyngas as well.

Well one reason why the Afghans have indulged in all and sundry, has been because of the failures of our LEA's. Secondly, What our current military leadership is trying to do is bring sanity to Afghanistan, so that the Afghani's we are hosting can go back to a better place than they left. It's a daunting task, but we have to seriously sort it out ASAP!

Rohingya Muslims are responsibility of entire ummah that includes Pakistan but stranded Pakistanis are solely our, Pakistan's responsibility. They are our people who we have left behind. You are a soldier and you know wounded comrades are never left behind, never ever.
.

It's a matter of principal, NEVER. Unfortunately 90% of civilians on this forum won't understand that.

There is no greater feeling or reward, than to save a comrades life, even if you have to sacrifice your own. I won't talk of my achievements, but you simply can't imagine the number of times I nearly lost my life, hadn't it been for the bravery, courage and dedication of my comrades, I wouldn't be here.

It's not only saddening for me, but extremely painful, to see how we have simply turned a blind eye towards them.

You can find worst pictures then those from poor of Pakistan. Shame on you for playing politics over rohinga refugees. Read what Bangladeshis have to say about biharis, they are not persecuted at all and no one will bring them to Pakistan.

Bhai Sahab, there are always two sides to coin? always two sides to a story? Please do look into what the Stranded Pakistanis / Biharis, have to say about Bengali's and how they are persecuted to date!

We are not saying ignore the Rohingyas. But do not forget our own either!