by Harmain Ahmer in Dawn: Following the ‘Fall of Dhaka’, the non-Bengalis in Bangladesh were subjected to ‘denationalisation’ by the Government of Pakistan, as the government did not allow non-Bengalis to enter into Pakistan.
Pakistan’s renunciation of non-Bengalis as Pakistani citizens was also motivated by its understanding of non-Bengalis as mere refugees and aliens, conceiving their unauthorised movement into Pakistan as a breach of its borders and sovereignty. Additionally, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh’s failure to recognise them as citizens of Bangladesh led to their de facto status as stateless individuals.
The trilateral Delhi Agreement (1973-1974) attempted to aid the repatriation processes, and organisations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee (SPGRC) pushed for the resettlement of refugees across India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
However, the states’ aporetic dialogues over the refugee crisis of 1971 have been marked by their anxious sovereignties. The three countries persistently downplayed and denied the aforementioned figures in their efforts to deny the large influx of refugees and the porosity of the borders, as that implied a border breach for them.
The leadership in Pakistan then created a discourse and rhetoric that ungraciously sidelined non-Bengalis, specifically the ethnic Bihari community. The overall national dialogue and political activities were oriented around an unfailing unacceptance of non-Bengalis from East Pakistan in erstwhile West Pakistan.
This was palpable in the criteria set by the Government of Pakistan for their clearance in the Delhi Agreement (1974) as well, as seen in a clause of the agreement: “In respect of non-Bangalees [sic] in Bangladesh, the Pakistan side stated that the Government of Pakistan had already issued clearances for movement to Pakistan in favour of those non-Bangalees [sic] who were either domiciled in former West Pakistan, were employees of the Central Government and their families, or were members of the divided families, irrespective of their original domicile.”
The total number of non-Bengalis repatriated, which included ethnic communities such as Biharis and other non-Bengalis originating from the United Provinces etc, came down to 144,800, while more than 258,000 people still awaited repatriation to Pakistan from Bangladesh.
In the newly independent Bangladesh, the ICRC established transit camps for people awaiting repatriation and seeking protection in the aftermath of the war. Amongst the non-Bengalis that inhabited the camps were people belonging to the ethnic Bihari community and some belonged to Urdu-speaking communities that originated from the erstwhile United Provinces of British India.
By 1972, around a million Biharis had relocated to camps with hopes of finding shelter and security, with many wanting to repatriate to the now-truncated Pakistan or to return to their homes in Bangladesh.
More here.
