Pakistan's Supreme Court is currently examining a petition filed by the Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee (SPGRC). The petition seeks the court's intervention to secure the repatriation and rehabilitation of Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh. The problem of stranded Pakistanis, also known as Biharis, dates back to the period before the partition of the subcontinent between India and Pakistan. It is a well-known fact that Pakistan came into being after a long struggle and great sacrifices made by Muslims in the subcontinent in order to establish a country of their own. This followed the realization of Muslim leaders that it would be impossible for Muslims to get their due rights under Hindu majority rule. Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah started his political career as a member of the Indian National Congress and he was a staunch advocate of Hindu and Muslim unity in the beginning. However, in time he became fully convinced that he had no alternative but to quit the Congress party and join the Muslim League to serve the interests of Muslims. He then came forward vigorously with the two-nation theory for the creation of two separate states for Hindus and Muslims. As an aftermath of partition, millions of Muslims migrated to Pakistan and Hindus migrated to India. Biharis were those who migrated from the Indian state of Bihar to East Pakistan only because of their proximity to that part of the new country. These Biharis lived in East Pakistan until its secession and the creation of the new state of Bangladesh. During the Liberation War, they stood by the Pakistan Army that fought for keeping the country united. After the fall of Dhaka, Biharis had to pay a big price for their stance, and subsequently they were subjected to killing and looting and were driven from their homes. Successive governments in Pakistan gave these people promises but none of these were translated into action. However, President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was an exception when he announced that he would help repatriate them to Pakistan even if it was on his back. He was instrumental in establishing an endowment, which was a joint scheme of the government of Pakistan and the Makkah-based Muslim World League (MWL). At that time, Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef was the secretary general of the MWL. The Punjab provincial government donated land to build houses for the stranded Pakistanis. But the sudden death of General Zia dealt a severe blow to the scheme. Neither Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto nor President Pervez Musharraf showed any interest in this issue. However, Nawaz Sharif revived the endowment during his first and second tenures as prime minister of Pakistan. Sharif held the presidency of the Rabita Endowment but the project was frozen following the military coup by Musharraf. The Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) recently organized a seminar in Jeddah to express its solidarity with the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to accept the petition of the stranded Pakistanis. The petition was filed by SPGRC in 2009, demanding the Pakistan government to repatriate and rehabilitate stranded Pakistanis in line with the basics of the Pakistan Constitution and the tripartite agreement signed by Pakistan, Bangladesh and India in 1974. Under the agreement, all citizens should be repatriated to their respective countries. The seminar was chaired by the famous Pakistani poet and PRC Vice President Naseem Sehar. In his speech, Sehar praised the court for boldly accepting the petition. He also urged the federal government to take steps for the repatriation of the stranded Pakistanis from Bangladesh. Some leaders of the Pakistani community in Jeddah also spoke on the occasion. They included Shamsuddin Altaf of the Pakistan People Community and Aziz Ahmed, secretary general of the Pakistan Engineers Society. They praised the PRC for organizing the function. Noted poets Shaukat Jamal, Abdul Qayyum Wasiq and Zamurrad Saifi presented patriotic poems. PRC Convener Ehsanul Haque thanked the speakers, poets and journalists for participating in the event. In my speech, I thanked Sehar and his colleagues at the PRC who are keen to instill hope in the stranded Pakistanis and to let them know that there are some people in Pakistan who are supporting their cause and working hard to end their ordeal. While expressing my appreciation for the commendable efforts made by Sharif when he served as prime minister earlier, I requested him to revive the initiative to repatriate and rehabilitate more than a quarter of a million Pakistanis. I also noted that Prime Minister Sharif repatriated Pakistanis in his past tenure by taking positive action, “and now when Allah has blessed him to become prime minister for a third time, he should be kind to those people and take urgent measures to settle them in the allocated land in Punjab.” Of course, Sharif has to deal with many problems but the problem of these hapless people is very pathetic as they have been languishing for more than 40 years in squalid camps. I also quoted a saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him) which states that Allah blesses those rulers who take care of oppressed people in society. I also expressed hope that the Supreme Court of Pakistan would issue a verdict in favor of the stranded Pakistanis, as the judiciary always seems to provide more justice to people than politicians do. I concluded my speech by reminding everyone that the dignity and honor of Biharis must be protected just like that of any other Pakistanis and that history will not forgive those who forget this reality and who express their doubts as to whether these people are really Pakistanis in every sense of the word.
— Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at [email protected]
