Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh: Supreme Court admits petition for regular hearing

A three-member Supreme Court bench led by Justice Nasirul Mulk asked the federation to provide assistance regarding 300,000 stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh after it accepted a plea of Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Com-mittee (SPGRC) for regular hearing.
The Supreme Court took up the matter of repatriation of around 300,000 stranded Pakistanis (mostly Biharis) from Bangladesh Tuesday in response to a constitutional petition 67/2009 of the SPGRC and issued a notice to Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) in the matter. The petition was moved in 2009 under Article 184(3) of the Constitution; however, the Registrar raised certain objections.
Last month, the Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani decided to hear the matter and fixed the matter for a preliminary hearing in the apex court. During the course of proceedings, Rashid-ul-Haq Qazi, the counsel for SPGRC, submitted that approximately 160,000 stranded Pakistanis were repatriated to Pakistan in accordance with the Tripartite Delhi Agreement, signed between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh but later on, Pakistan has failed to fulfil 25 percent of the terms of agreement and the repatriation of stranded Pakistanis was stopped unilaterally by the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto regime in 1974.
Speaking about the last repatriation of stranded Pakistanis, he said it was on January 10, 1993 that a group of 325 stranded Pakistanis was repatriated and rehabilitated in the province of the Punjab. He contended that stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh had declined to accept the nationality of India or Bangladesh due to their patriotic approach to Pakistan. Citing global covenants and conventions to substantiate his arguments, he also said that Pakistan was hesitant to bring Biharis back to the country. After issuing a notice to the AGP for assistance in the matter, the bench adjourned the hearing of case for an indefinite period.