Since December 16, 1971 about 250,000 Pakistanis have been stranded in Bangladesh , confined to living in 66 camps spread across 13 districts. Their only crime was being on the losing side of a political argument. When Bangladesh was born, thousands of these people were killed, maimed, raped and looted. Their homes, businesses and properties were confiscated and they lost their jobs. What befell them was nothing short of a holocaust but history forgot them. The country whose citizenship they hold has abandoned them. The country, in which they are stranded, has turned them into social outcasts.

The fall of Dhaka was not the end of the great tragedy. It was a new beginning for patriotic Pakistanis who refused to go along with the separatist elements of East Pakistan. While the Pakistan Army along with some civilians (and their families) from the erstwhile Pakistani establishment posted there could manage a safe passage to India as POWs, these Pakistanis were abandoned there at the mercy of the cruel MUKTI BAHINI (Armed liberation force of Awami League) and of the Indian Army.

The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) registered nearly 540,000 of the surviving Urdu speaking Pakistanis who opted to Pakistan .

About 175,000 Pakistanis were airlifted to Pakistan as per tripartite agreement in Delhi in 1972, among Pakistan, India and Bangladesh .

In 1988 a Trust was established following an agreement between government of Pakistan and the Muslim World League, for the repatriation of these stranded Pakistanis. But due to frequent changes of political situation of Pakistan , this humanitarian Issue is still unresolved.

So far no help is visible on the horizon for these ill-fated people, not even food and medicine.

Were possibly can these forgotten people make their homes and provide security for their families is the grim question we must face. Or, are we strong enough to face this question? Do we understand our responsibilities as human being that we must carry out to help these forgotten people?

It is evident that this Issue has festered enough and the jittery questions before Pakistan and the international community are: should they continue to languish like this for ever? Will that day ever dawn when their sustained loyalty and patriotism for Pakistan be redeemed? Will their long patience for honorable settlement in Pakistan ever be rewarded?

 

Since Friends of Humanity appeal to the citizens and governments of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh and the United States of America to come to the rescue of these innocent stranded Pakistanis who have already lost a generation in the last 35 years living in sub-human conditions while the next cohort continues to languish in hopelessness.

Suggestions to avoid a human catastrophe:

  1. The Governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh immediately contact the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to secure an adequate subsistence allowances for these people.
  2. That the Pakistan National Identity Cards that were issued by the then Government of  Pakistan and are in the safe custody of the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka, Bangladesh be used with necessary updates, as the Travel Documents for repatriating these stranded Pakistanis to their lawful homeland, Pakistan.
  3. Those who were born in the camps of Bangladesh should be given the right to opt for citizenship of Pakistan or Bangladesh , as they like.
  4. That the Government of Pakistan should start repatriating all of the stranded Pakistan from Bangladesh with the help of Governments of Bangladesh, United States of America, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as with the help of United Nations Organization, Human Rights organizations.

 

 

 

The Abandoned People
JUNE 5, 2005: Abandoned by their own government to exist in squalid camps in a hostile country, the quarter of a million Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh for over three decades have lost all hopes. It is pathetic that the country that played host to some three million Afghans after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan has chosen to forget its own people who sacrificed to protect its integrity and sovereignty read more

CHRONOLOGY
Apart from other assets, some $200mn in cash also remained stuck in a Pakistani bank.. read more

TREATY FOR THE REPATRIATION SIGNED BY PAKISTAN
A Trust was established for the repatriation and rehabilitation of stranded Pakistanis under a Treaty signed by the President of Pakistan and Muslim World League on 9th July 1988. Then President Ziaul Haque (Late) from Pakistan and Dr. Abdullah Umer Nasif (then secretary general MWL) signed the agreement. read more

Background and subsequent developments
1. With the breakup of Pakistan and the emergence of East Pakistan in December 1971 as an independent state of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, more than 539,000 Pakistanis, who were stranded in the new state of Bangladesh, shoulder the recurring expenses any further. We believe that this is a very undesirable situation and should be addressed immediately read more

A TALE OF TWO TRAGEDIES
MARCH 3: I was in Jeddah (the western port city and otherwise also known as the bride of the Red Sea) during this Eid Al-Adha holidays. Jeddah is a different city altogether; its known for its lovely night-time aerial view, beautiful sky lines, impressive corniche, mushrooming of sea-food outlets, Al-Baik (the Saudi equivalent of KFC, which we don’t find in Riyadh as yet)) and a transit station for the Hajis (the intending pilgrims) who come to the holy city of Makkah for Umrah or Hajj. read more