Bangladesh’s liberation, but silence on Biharis

The people of Bangladesh deserve kudos for the removal of Sheikh Hasina, who did not really benefit the people of Bangladesh.

Amidst the appreciative sentiments expressed by Pakistani academics and social media networks, one aspect is missing – the tormenting issue of the Biharis languishing in squalor and ignominy in concentration camps in Bangladesh for the last fifty-three years.

Bihari is a generic term, implying the migrants from the Indian state of Bihar, who headed for then East Pakistan, after India’s partition in 1947.

Later all non-Bengalis, even the Punjabis, Pathans, Sindhi and Balochis from West Pakistan, who were posted to East Pakistan or settled in the Eastern Wing, were labelled as Biharis by Bengalis.

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Post-partition, Muslims from the province of Bihar, UP and other Indian states had to flee to escape the wrath of Hindu marauders.

The mostly educated and hardworking Muslims migrating to East Pakistan, were easily absorbed in the fields of education, medicine, railways, police, armed forces and other important cadres.

By dint of hard work, they rose to higher positions, replacing the Hindus that had migrated to India. Despite welcoming them initially, Bengalis resented the prosperity and success of the Biharis.

The first fissures between the two communities appeared as early as 1948 because of the language movement, when the Federal Government of Pakistan declared Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Bengal.

The Biharis, whose mother tongue was Urdu, did not join in the language movement but the Bengalis, who were already conscious of the relatively higher placement of the Biharis, took note of the Biharis’ abstinence from joining their Bengali brethren in the protest rallies.

Following the general elections of 1970, in which Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League swept the polls, the dictatorship – swayed by ambitious west Pakistani politicians – refused to hand over the reins of government to Sheikh Mujib, leading to unrest, fuelled by India.

On March 7, 1971, Bengali officers and men of East Pakistan Rifles and other units rebelled. Biharis were an easy target since they were unarmed and lived in specific communities.

The magnitude of anti-Bihari attacks is contested but it is estimated that 500,000 Biharis were killed.

In retaliation, the army launched “Operation Searchlight” on 25 March 1971 to curb the political and civil unrest—protect the communities under attack—and take back the territory occupied by the insurgents.

On 26 March, Bangladesh declared its Independence. During this period, Biharis supported the Pakistan Armed Forces—joining armed paramilitary groups such as Al-Shams, Razakars and Al-Badr—to protect themselves and to uphold the rule of law.

The war of secession continued till November 1971. Overwhelmed by the massive Indian forces, Pakistan Army surrendered in East Pakistan on 16 December 1971.

While the Pakistani Armed Forces and West Pakistani bureaucrats posted to East Pakistan were made prisoners of war, jubilant Mukti Bahini attacked Biharis at will. The remnants were herded into camps.

Some Biharis managed to escape to West Pakistan via Nepal and Myanmar but most were incarcerated in the camps. The Bengalis looked upon them as the enemy while West Pakistan refused to grant them asylum.

The gory tale of the stranded Biharis speaks volumes for all stakeholders involved.

The Biharis’ crime was that they had supported a united Pakistan and aided the heavily outnumbered Pakistan armed forces in their defence of East Pakistan. Whereas they should have been readily resettled in West Pakistan, subsequent governments ignored them and left genuine Pakistanis to suffer the tyranny of Bangladesh.

Incongruously, Sheikh Hasina won accolades from human rights organizations for welcoming the Rohingya Muslims, settling them with honour and dignity in Bangladesh but the sad predicament of the Biharis remained unnoticed.

According to historian Partha Ghosh approximately 470,000 Biharis out of a total of 700,000 opted for being settled in Pakistan through the International Red Cross. Despite efforts of numerous international social workers and human rights activists, in a 1974 agreement, Pakistan accepted only 170,000 Bihari refugees; after which, the repatriation was discontinued.

The plight of the Biharis has fallen on deaf ears.

Organisations such as Refugees International have urged both governments to “grant citizenship to the hundreds of thousands of people who remain without effective nationality”.

Of the 170,000 repatriated to Pakistan, the picture is grim. Land allocated to Biharis in Pakistan in one colony in Mian Channu is now a slum. The Biharis were targeted by Sindhis in Karachi riots, during the 1980s. Orangi Town in Karachi houses lower-income Biharis, who eke out survival despite having a high rate of literacy especially amongst females.

Successive Pakistani governments have refused to take ‘back’ these people, most of whom have never been to (West) Pakistan. Many of the younger generations have lived their entire lives within the cramped perimeters of makeshift camps scattered across Bangladesh. The Geneva Camp in Mohammadpur, Dhaka, is iconic in this respect.

Located in the heart of the capital, the Camp constitutes a no-man’s land, a site that most Bangladeshis barely acknowledge even though its borders bleed into neighboring areas. This spatial ambivalence characterizes the place of Biharis in the nation.

On the one hand, Biharis constitute an invisible minority, erased from the historical, cultural and national landscape. On the other hand, they are subject to significant nationalist hostility.

Today 250,000 Biharis remain stranded in Bangladesh. Neither Pakistan will accept them, nor does Bangladesh want them.

To add to their woes, Sheikh Hasina —after becoming the Prime Minister—initiated a crackdown on the so-called collaborators of Pakistan Army in 1971 and continued to mete death sentences through kangaroo courts till her ouster in August 2024.

Paradoxically, Pakistan welcomed and gave safe haven to Afghans for over four decades, who became inimical to Pakistan at the drop of a hat. Conversely, bona fide Pakistanis who held aloft the national banner—sacrificing for the defense of Pakistan—remain marginalized.

While recognising the sensitivities of foreign relations and the limitations of our Foreign Office, it is imperative to lend cognition to the Biharis—a community that has always demonstrated unconditional love for Pakistan and produced heroes like the Fighters’ Ace MM Alam among others. In the latest surge of goodwill toward Bengalis, there continues to be total amnesia regarding the issue of stranded Pakistani Biharis in the ghettos of Bangladesh.

The onus now rests on Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, head of Bangladesh’s interim government, to correct this grave mistake. On 18th January 2022, NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) issued National Identity Cards to Bengalis as Pakistani citizens, because they opted to stay in Pakistan. Islamabad cannot reset its relations with Dhaka without revisiting the moral foundations of its political and military stance.

Any willingness to move beyond the bitterness of the 1971 war would be hollow if this moment of gross injustice is not handled with empathetic care. Addressing unresolved historical grievances and the unheeded status of stranded Biharis—who remain in limbo after decades of statelessness—should be at the core of all conversation.

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