Viewpoint
The Biharis, the Non-Bengalis, the Stateless or the Pakistanis!
By Dr. Mujahid Ghazi
Chicago , IL
It is 16 th December. Every year this day reminds me of the painful event in 1971 when Sonar Bangla, East Pakistan, fell and hundreds and thousands of patriotic Pakistanis became prisoners of ego and lost everything, including their citizenship, and became stateless.
After 38 years those Pakistanis along with the next two generations born in the meantime are still stateless. About 300 thousand of these people are living in miserable conditions in 70 camps scattered in various regions of Bangladesh. Their hopes of repatriation to Pakistan have been exploited by different governments and political parties every now and then.
The Secretary General of Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Council (SPGRC) Mr. Haroon ur Rasheed in a recent interview disclosed that Gen. Zia ul Haq was committed to repatriate these people and a Rabita Trust was established in 1988 for this purpose but unfortunately he was killed in a plane crash. He said that the only other person who was sincere in this regard was Mian Nawaz Sharif, who started the repatriation by providing houses in Mian Chunnoo in Punjab. After only 325 persons of the first 56 families were repatriated his government was taken over by General Musharraf and the whole matter once again went into cold storage. He said if the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement had desired this issue could have been resolved very easily. Repatriation of Pakistanis in Bangldesh was the foremost clause in the manifesto of MQM from the beginning. Haroon ur Rasheed had a discussion with Dr. Farooq Sattar during Pervez Musharraf’s rule Dr. Sattar said the Sindhis were not willing to accept these stateless people and since we are in partnership with these people in the government it is difficult for MQM to demand repatriation. He said a lot of divided family members are voters of MQM and it was a pity that they were being ignored. I asked Haroon Rasheed about the recent move of the Bangladesh government of giving citizenship to the people in the camps. He said the move is nothing but a scam. The BD government has an eye on the property where these camps are located and they want to dislodge us by giving us the so-called citizenship. He said the government is not giving any assurance of education or jobs or return of our properties or jobs which we had prior to 16 th December 1971.
Today we are celebrating the rule of justice in Pakistan. A full 17-Judge Supreme Court Bench has declared the National Reconciliation Ordinance unconstitutional. All cases of corruption, murder, kidnapping, extortion and other irregularities have been reopened. The whole nation is celebrating the victory of civil society and judiciary.
I wish a full bench of our respected judges reopens the case of the people who have been forgotten and continue to languish in dilapidated camps. These people have been forced to live in 8 x 8 cubicles, with their children and grand-children, in unhygienic and miserable conditios. A bench which could examine the fact that for an average of 600 people there are 3 restrooms and people have to wait hours in lines to use them. A full court reference which could examine the factors responsible for forcing the Pakistani women in those camps to sell their dignity and honor to overcome poverty and hunger. A bench which could examine the 50% infant mortality rate in these camps along with the prevalence of TB, typhoid, measles and cholera. A panel of judges who could call witnesses from these camps and investigate who was responsible for the death of 2500 children due to exposure to cold in winter last year.
Most importantly, I wish the Chief justice of the Supreme Court would use his suo moto privilege to initiate an inquiry to determine who was behind the conspiracy of getting this ordinance part of constitution:
{ • 16-A. Certain persons to lose and others to retain citizenship(68)
(1) All persons who at any time before sixteenth day of December 1971, were citizens of Pakistan domiciled in the territories which before said day constituted the Province of East Pakistan and who:
(i) were residing in those territories on that day and are residing therein since that day voluntarily or otherwise shall cease to be citizens of Pakistan.}
If this trial is ever conducted it would definitely declare us as the culprit. We the government, the opposition, the people, the civil society, the media, the intellectuals, the capitalists and the judiciary of Pakistan are guilty of ignoring, forgetting and exploiting the misery of these 300,000 people.
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