“All citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection by law”
Partition following independence from Britain has left a legacy of large scale mass movements which impacted the relationship between minority and majority communities in South Asian states.
During 1946-1947 Bihar experienced some of India’s worst communal riots. A huge number of Muslims from Bihar saved themselves by migrating to Bangladesh where they are known as Bihari or Urdu speaking people.
They received citizenship from Pakistan via the 1952 Pakistan citizenship act. East Pakistan being dominated from the very beginning by the Pakistani central government, many of them gained extra advantages in terms of government jobs, trade and commercial facilities.
When Bangladesh’s liberation war broke out in 1971, a sizeable number of Urdu speaking people opposed independence. A very small number of such Urdu speaking people collaborated with the Pakistani army and actively participated in killing missions.
However after independence, this whole community faced an unprecedented level of uncertainty particularly at Syedpur and Parbotipur. Independence saw the Bihari people being labelled as traitors or Pakistani collaborators and many no longer felt safe in their own homes.
In 1972, following presidential orders and clauses of the Enemy Property Act , many were forcibly evicted them from their homes and stripped of their citizenship, jobs, land and houses. In 1973, a survey produced two lists. One: of those who wanted to stay in Bangladesh, and the other: those who wanted to go to Pakistan.
People who wanted to go to Pakistan were catogerised as “Stranded Pakistanis, ” and entitled to UN refugee relief assistance. This segment of people lost their citizenship during that time.
However despite efforts by the Bangladesh government to repatriate such people to Pakistan as they wished, diplomatic negotiations stalled and over time it became clear very few of the “Stranded Pakistanis” would be able to go to Pakistan.
In 2007, following a writ petition, the high court of Bangladesh issued a historic verdict to reinstate citizen status and voting rights for this whole community.
Despite such progress and the reintegration of many “refugee camp” people into society, there has been a lack of effective government initiative and many in this community are more vulnerable than before.
Bangladesh’s government has failed to fulfil its constitutional obligations to ensure the provision of basic necessities for this community. Poor environment, water, sewerage lack of latrines and clean water are the condition in which these people are forced to endure in their localities.
Again, it needs be noted that it is stated clearly in the constitution - (28)1 - “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.”
Yet, many in the majority community still discriminate against this community, most of whom were born long after independence.
There have been serious allegations that private owners of different factories are not very keen to employ Bihari people because of their camp identity. And Government jobs are still a far-cry dream for them.
Camp dwellers are still facing serious problems when applying for passports and are paid lower wages in comparison with the other people.
The population of this community in their camps is growing and so there is more need to deal with the discrimination and problems they encounter.
During the national and local elections, this community has always played a vital role in electing representatives, so we have to ask why their situation is still so dire?
Even today, the Bihari community is under constant threat of eviction and harassment. There have been numerous reports that they do not receive their character certificates on time from the local representatives.
In impoverished localities, illegal activities are bound to thrive and as a result, police harassment has grown and it has come to a point where even their rich culture, language and literature is under threat.
The bottom line is that the living conditions of the Bihari people, is a classic example of a group being labelled as second class citizens strife and their needs are constantly being ignored. It is high time we increased awareness of their problems and took steps to ensure violations of human rights are not allowed to continue.
A good start could come from implementing the integration of the Bihari people with the local people. The government should make support from development works, rehabilitation and resettlement outside the camps, the utmost priority.
