AsiaCalling

Download - Listen 

Until 1971, Bangladesh and Pakistan were united, as East and West Pakistan respectively.  

The war for the creation of Bangladesh cost the lives of hundreds of thousands maybe millions and displaced millions more.

Many of those opposed to Bangladesh fled to West Pakistan, which is today known simply as Pakistan.

Nearly thirty years on the impacts of the bitter separation are still being felt, with millions of Bengalis essentially living as stateless people.  

Our reporter Saif Khan met with some of them in the Pakistani city of Karachi and asked them how they cope with a life in limbo.

“I swear by the Holly Quran I am born in Pakistan, am Pakistani, my father and son are Pakistani but I am always discriminated against for being ethic Bengali.”

This is Abdul Rahman, one of nearly five million ethnic Bengalis living in the slums of Karachi. His simple words explain the heartbreaking tale of a generation struggling to find an identity. 

“We supported the Muslim league who were opposed to the creation of Bangladesh, so we were targeted by in 1971 during the war for independence. We fled that country and came here, but we are facing the same issues here … now you tell me: where should we go?” 

I met Abdul in Korangi, a coastal town of Karachi. Despite being treated as second-class citizens in Pakistan almost no one here wants to return to Bangladesh. 

70-year old Haji Jamel recalls the long sea journey to Pakistan.

“There were nearly three thousand people on a ship bound for Karachi from Bangladesh in 1971. Most of us are now settled in slums like this. We have nothing left in Bangladesh to return to.”

The problem for many Bengalis who fled because of the war of independence is that they have no legal documents from either Pakistan or Bangladesh.  

Despite living in here for decades and originating from former East Pakistan they are not recognized, as Pakistani’s. And they cannot return to Bangladesh because they opposed its creation or left before it officially became a country.  

In search of answers, I met Saboor Ghayoor who has served as an advisor on migration and labour policy to the Pakistani government. 

“I can imagine and feel pity about the situation of Bengalis in Pakistan, we have the National Alias Registration Authority but it needs to be made more effective in terms of providing legal cover to these people, provided they are not here for ill designed purposes.” 

Bengali community leader Mansoor Alam says that some Bengalis do succeed in getting legal documents, but only after paying bribes to the police and bureaucrats. Even then they still face discrimination. 

“Their political identity is questioned. During elections all parties promise them equal rights but after that no one comes to deliver.”

People here are reluctant to talk about why they are rejected by Pakistan. They have a unique language and culture and even from the time of partition with India, Bengalis have struggled for acceptance.

In Korangi, Bengali scholar Professor Mohiuddin is also visiting; to see how his countrymen are going.   

“Well, he is saying that he has not been issued Pakistani documents, that is why he can not travel to Bangladesh and meet relatives after thirty years …”

“… he is saying he has five daughters, the eldest one is a graduate but has been denied any government job so she is seeking a private job.” 

But Professor Mohiuddin Ahmed doesn’t have a solution for the stateless Bengalis either.

“They rejected their Bengali identity, pretending to be more Pakistani than the Pakistanis, trying to get the sympathy of the regime. So now they have no access to the Bangladeshi High Commissioner either and Pakistan is not sympathetic to them so they are caught somewhere in between. I guess they are facing troubles of their own wrong decisions”

There is no public school in Korangi’s Bengali slum so most children get their education from the religious seminary. Unless their parents and grandparents are one day rewarded for their loyalty to West Pakistan in the war of independence with Bangladesh, the future for these young ones, born and raised in Pakistan, remains bleak.