History of Bihari
English
By 1974, 108,000 had been transferred to Pakistan, and by 1981, 163,000.
see url https://etxflooring.com/2025/04/wdl4ku8wl Bihari Muslims are adherents of Islam who identify linguistically, culturally, and genealogically as Biharis. They are geographically native to the region comprising the Bihar state of India, although there are significantly large communities of Bihari Muslims living elsewhere in the subcontinent due to the Partition of British India in 1947, which prompted the community to migrate en masse from Bihar to the dominion of Pakistan (both West Pakistan and East Pakistan).
Buy Carisoprodol Online Cheaphttps://www.villageofhudsonfalls.com/t1o4ir972 Bihari Muslims make up a significant minority in Pakistan under the diverse community of Muhajirs (lit. ’migrants’), and largely began arriving in the country following the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which led to the secession of East Pakistan from the Pakistani union as the independent state of Bangladesh. Since 1971, Bihari Muslims residing in Bangladesh are widely referred to as Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh who are awaiting repatriation to Pakistan, and have faced heightened persecution in the country due to their support for Pakistan during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence.
go hereTramadol Sales Online The majority of Bihari Muslims adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam and the adoption of the religion by Biharis traces back to the 14th century, when Afghan traders and Sufi missionaries began to arrive in the region a century prior to the Mughal Empire’s conquest of the subcontinent. There are also a significant minority of Biharis who adhere to the Shia branch of Islam, largely residing in Patna and Gopalpur in Siwan, tracing their religious descent to Shia Muslim settlers of distant Persian ancestry from Lucknow in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, who arrived in the region during the 19th century.
watchHistory
https://kanchisilksarees.com/i2ls7zdjr04 Sher Shah Suri Tomb in Sasaram. He was the founder of the Sur Empire and was born in Bihar to Pathan parents.
https://www.annarosamattei.com/?p=ezw81yiu The large-scale arrival of Muslims in Bihar began in the 14th century, when Turk traders and Sufi saints-warriors settled in the South Bihar plains and furthered the process of agricultural colonization while also spreading Islam among the local populace. Muslims were not the only new immigrants to Bihar during this period. Inscriptions in Bihar Sharif tell of a Sufi warrior by the name of Malik Ibrahim Bayu who came to Bihar and defeated the non-Hindu Kol tribe who had been oppressing the local Muslims. He conquered many Kol chiefdoms.
https://colvetmiranda.org/c3obxxssb Some of the kings and chieftains of medieval Bihar were Muslim. The chieftaincy of Kharagpur Raj in modern-day Munger district was originally controlled by Hindu Rajputs. In 1615 after a failed rebellion by Raja Sangram Singh, his son, Toral Mal converted and he changed his name to Roz Afzun.
https://musicboxcle.com/2025/04/5wlfosxi The Faujdars of Purnea (also known as the Nawabs of Purnea) created an autonomous territory for themselves under the leadership of Saif Khan and ruled in parts of Eastern Bihar in the early 1700s. They were engaged in a protracted conflict with the neighbouring Kingdom of Nepal.
https://kirkmanandjourdain.com/92o6s48v Many Bihari Muslims migrated to West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) after the partition of India in 1947.
Society
https://townofosceola.com/0znowoy Bihari Muslim society has traditionally been divided by caste and clan affiliations. Muslims refer to these distinctions as Biradri and the intermarriage remains rare. The neologism Ashraf socio-political groups are historic ruling upper class castes and include groups like Pathans, Sayyid, Sheikh, Mallick and Mirza.
see The Pathans of Bihar are mostly the descendants of Pashtun settlers with some being descended from local high-caste Bhumihar and Rajput converts who intermarried with the said ethnoreligious group. The Mirzas claim descent from the Mughals and are found mainly in the area around Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur.
follow site Among the largest socio-political grouping under the neologism of so-called Ajlaf groups are the Ansaris who form 20% of the Muslim population in Bihar. Their traditional occupation is weaving.
Notable Bihari Muslims
Sir Syed Ali Imam was an Indian Barrister and freedom fighter who was the first Indian to represent India at the round table of 1929. He served as Prime Minister of Hyderabad State from 1919 to 1922. He was one of the founders of Modern Bihar.
Biography: Syed Ali Imam was born on 11 February 1869, in karai parsari village, near Fatuha, Bihar. The son of Nawab Syed Imdad Imam Bin Syed Wahiduddin Khan Bahadur and the brother of Syed Hasan Imam. In 1887, he went to London to study law and was called to the English bar by the Middle Temple. He returned to India in 1890. He was a member of the Bihar District Board. In 1909, he was appointed to the Bengal Legislative Council.
https://www.anonpr.net/xyj1s424pc In 1917, Imam was appointed a Justice of the Patna High Court. Later, he worked as the Chief Minister of the Hyderabad State. After that, he resumed private practice in 1920 and joined the Indian independence movement. Imam served as President of Muslim League. He was knighted in 1908. He was a Law member of the Imperial Legislative Council. He was responsible for convincing the board to move the capital city of Kolkata to Delhi. He was married to Anees Fatima.
https://audiopronews.com/headlines/e1ozhge Imam spoke several languages and was a good orator. On 17 October 1932, He died in Ranchi and was buried at Kokar Chowk in Hazaribagh road.
Sir Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh was an Indian advocate, judge, philosopher , revolutionary freedom fighter, scholar and historian from Patna, Bihar. He was the founder of Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library and Chief Justice of Nizam’s Supreme Court of Hyderabad from 1895 to 1898. Khuda Bakhsh maintains a strong legacy across the Islamic World for his contributions to Literature and History.
Early life: Khuda Bakhsh was born into a prominent noble family in Patna and was brought up under the guidance of his father, Sir Muhammed Bakhsh, a famous advocate and Zamindar from Patna, Bihar. His family was distinguished in scholarship and one of his distant ancestors, Qazi Haibatullah, took part in compiling the Fatawa ‘Alamgiri. The House of Bakhsh were the official record keepers who were given the responsibility by the Mughal Emperors to write day-to-day activities across the Mughal Empire.
His father, Muhammed Bakhsh, was a lawyer working in Bankipur and although he was not wealthy, due to his passion for Persian and Arabic literature, he has amassed a collection of 1200 manuscripts. Khuda Bakhsh would add to this collection later in life. Originally, Khuda Bakhsh read in Calcutta under the care of a Nawab Amir Ali Khan Bahadur, who was a pleader in the Sadr Diwani Adalat. His father’s illness however meant he was recalled home to Bankipur and had to start work to help his family financially.
His father, Muhammed Bakhsh, was a lawyer working in Bankipur and although he was not wealthy, due to his passion for Persian and Arabic literature, he has amassed a collection of 1200 manuscripts. Khuda Bakhsh would add to this collection later in life. Originally, Khuda Bakhsh read in Calcutta under the care of a Nawab Amir Ali Khan Bahadur, who was a pleader in the Sadr Diwani Adalat. His father’s illness however meant he was recalled home to Bankipur and had to start work to help his family financially.
https://semichaschaver.com/2025/04/03/2kkom0cigt Career: He started his career as a Peshkar in 1868. He later on became the Government pleader of Patna in 1880. At the same time, his father became very ill. In his dying breath, he requested his son to open a public library. He inherited 1,400 manuscripts from his father and opened the library to the public in 1891, expanding the collection to 4,000 manuscripts and 80,000 books. He became the first director of the library and remained in that position until his death, except for a brief period from 1895 to 1898 when he was serving as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hyderabad.
https://faroutpodcast.com/6z518uljelj He was made the first honorary Vice Chairman of Patna Municipal Corporation under the Former Governor General of India George Robinson’s cabinet. Khuda Bakhsh met Sachchidananda Sinha while practicing in Allahabdad High Court as a Judge. He gave the responsibility of running the library to his student Dr. Sachchidananda Sinha from 1894 to 1898 where he mentored him. Khuda Bakhsh’s Son, Sir Salahuddin Bakhsh, later became good friends with Sinha and worked together in establishing his own library known as Sinha Library. Khuda Bakhsh was also a great friend of Shibil Nomani and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan with whom he worked together to introduce multiple reform in the education system of British India.
Foundation of Oriental Public Library: Sir Khuda Bakhsh inherited the private library from his father Muhammad Bakhsh and promised him in his death bed in 1876 that he will open the library for public. He hired Muhammad Maki to acquire books and manuscripts for a monthly income of Rs. 50/-In 1890 Bakhsh built a two-story library for Rs. 80,000 which was inaugurated in 1891 by the former Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, Sir Charles Elliott. He donated his manuscripts and books to the public on 14 January 1891.
https://mhco.ca/convfzwelsh Sir Khuda Bakhsh was approached by the representatives of the British Museum who made a stunning offer to purchase his collection, but he declined. He informed VC Scott O’Connor, an orientalist based in Edinburgh, England. “I am a poor man and the sum they offered me was a princely fortune, but could I ever part for money with that to which my father and I have dedicated our lives?” “No” he said “the collection is for Patna and the gift shall be laid at the feet of the Patna public”.
The library was designated as an institution of national importance on 26 December 1969 by an act of Parliament.
Death: Khuda Bakhsh was a very simple man with great vision and commitment. He died on 3 August 1908 and was buried in the library premise.
Legacy and recognition: Sir Khuda Bakhsh was given the title of “Khan Bahadur” in 1881. He was knighted with the Order of the Indian Empire in 1903. He was a member of the Royal Asiatic Society.
watch Career: In the late eighteenth century, he worked under Mary Impey, the wife of Sir Elijah Impey, Chief Justice of Calcutta Supreme Court. Among the three artists she brought from Patna to make realistic sketches of birds and animals of her private menagerie, Zainuddin was the foremost. Zainuddin combined English botanical illustration with Mughal Patna Qalam style. In his paintings, modern critics appreciate the way a “bright, simple background offsets the keenly wrought details of plants and animals”.
https://www.anonpr.net/d23it3k From 1777 to 1782, Zainuddin worked on Whiteman art paper manufactured in England for his transparent watercolor paintings. For his tinted drawings and sketches, he employed meticulous calligraphic strokes reminiscent of the works of Mughal Court artist Ustad Mansur. His drawings of mountain-rats, hanging bats, parrots, and storks are distinctive for having both aesthetic appeal and scientific value. These are now preserved in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Exhibitions: Zainuddin’s work was first exhibited in 2016 at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, as part of the Flower Power exhibition. At that point his name, written in an old hand-writing was taken to be “Jack Joyenadey.” Since then, researchers working together with the museum staff, have deciphered his name. The updated exhibition is online. Subsequently, Zainuddin’s work was exhibited in 2019 at London’s Wallace Collection, along with that of 17 other artists commissioned by the British East India Company. The director of the Wallace Collection, Xavier Bray, told Smithsonian that in Zainuddin’s paintings, “Everything is incredibly precise and beautifully observant.
https://www.psychiccowgirl.com/i4c53qvcz4e Life and Career: Shad Azimabadi was born in 1846 in his maternal grandparent’s house. His family was very wealthy and held a respectable position within the high-society of Patna. Shad Azimabadi showed an interest in poetry from a young age. He was taught Arabic, Persian and Urdu during his school years and received poetic instruction from a number of famous poets of his age including Shah Ulfat Hussain Faryaad who some consider his preceptor. His poetic work was published in five volumes. Bismil Azimabadi was disciple of Shad Azimabadi. Azimabadi’s granddaughter Shahnaz Fatmi is also a writer.
Attitudes towards Urdu: Azimabadi took a conservative approach towards the Urdu language, which he viewed as only in the purview of the upper classes. His attitude brought him into conflict with the Urdu newspaper, Al Punch as the newspaper gave space for common people to speak and write in Urdu which went against his view that only ashrafia were the rightful speakers of Urdu.
5: Ali Ibrahim Khan (1714–1793),
Ali Ibrahim Khan, also known as Khalil Azimabadi was an 18th-century Indian statesman and literary figure from Patna, then known as Azimabad. He was part of a group of Shia elites in the court of Alivardi Khan and he later worked for the British East India Company. He is well known for the literary work of his later career which includes the Persian biographies of Indian writers of his generation. He used his connections to install many of his own family in respectable positions and initiated the careers of many landholders in Bihar and Varanasi. He is credited with building the Dooly Ghat mosque in Patna.
Ali Ibrahim Khan, also known as Khalil Azimabadi was an 18th-century Indian statesman and literary figure from Patna, then known as Azimabad. He was part of a group of Shia elites in the court of Alivardi Khan and he later worked for the British East India Company. He is well known for the literary work of his later career which includes the Persian biographies of Indian writers of his generation. He used his connections to install many of his own family in respectable positions and initiated the careers of many landholders in Bihar and Varanasi. He is credited with building the Dooly Ghat mosque in Patna.
Early life: Ali Ibrahim Khan was born in Patna in a highly respected Shia Muslim family. His uncle was a jurist and a judge and his grandfather was a scholar. According to Joseph Héliodore Garcin de Tassy, his fathers name was Abdul Hakim. When he was just ten years old, he was taken from Patna to Murshidabad in 1740 together with other skilled administrators by Nawab Alivardi Khan, the Persian deputy-governor of Bihar who usurped the Nawabi of Bengal.
Time in court:
While posted at the court of Alivardi Khan, he impressed the nobles with his literary skills. In the years 1760–63, Ali Ibrahim was the most trusted advisor to Mir Qasim, who tried to reverse the East India Company’s conquest of Bengal. The British and their Indian collaborators respected Ali Ibrahim’s abilities and they soon employed him in the civil administration; in 1781 he accepted the post of Chief Magistrate of Civil Courts at Varanasi and the temporary role of amīn, executive assistant to the British Resident, in the overall government of Benares district.
The Governor-General wrote that:
“such is the opinion entertained of the Wisdom, and Integrity of Ally Ibrahim Cawn that the Naib will respect his opinions, and will at least fear to commit any gross Neglect or Misdemeanor with such an eye constantly regarding him”
Literary Career:
Ibrahim Ali Khan began writing while posted in Murshidabad where he also was a patron of various poets, all his surviving works were completed in Varanasi. His most famous work was the Golzār-e Ebrāhīm, a tadhkirah of Urdu poets, begun in 1770 and completed in 1784.
Early life:
Sharafuddin Ahmad ibn Yahya Maneri was born in Maner, a village near Patna in Bihar circa August 1263. His father was Makhdoom Yahya Maneri, a Sufi saint. His maternal grandfather Shahabuddin Jagjot Balkhi, whose tomb is located at Kachchi Dargah in Patna district, was also a revered Sufi.
At age 12, he left Maner to gain traditional knowledge of Arabic, Persian, logic, philosophy and religion. He was tutored by Ashraf-Uddin Abu Towama Bukhari, a famous scholar from Sonargaon near Narainganj (now in Dhaka, Bangladesh) with whom he spent 24 years. At first, he refused to marry but, upon falling ill, he married Bibi Badaam. He left home after the birth of his son Zakiuddin in 1289 A.D. His son lived and died in Bengal.
Career:
After completing his education he left for Delhi where he met Nizamuddin and other Sufis. His elder brother Makhdoom Jaleeluddin Maneri (buried at Badi Dargah in Maner Sharif) accompanied him there, and introduced him to his pir (spiritual master) Sheikh Najeebuddin Firdausi.
In Delhi, he became a disciple of Sheikh Najeebuddin Firdausi of Mehrauli and was given the title of Firdausi. To shun material comforts, Sheikh Sharfuddin Ahmed bin Yahya Maneri went into the forest of Bihiya (about 15 miles west of Maner). He later went to Rajgir (about 75 miles east of Maner) where he performed ascetic exercises in the hills. A hot spring close to a place where he often prayed in Rajgir is named Makhdoom Kund in his memory.
After 30 years in the forests, Sheikh Sharfuddin Ahmed bin Yahya Maneri settled at Bihar Sharif.Later Sultan Muhammad Tughlaq built a Khanqah for him where he taught and trained disciples in Sufism (Tasawwuf). He devoted his life to teaching and writing.
Death:
Main article: Urs-e-Makhdoom-e-Jahan
He died in 1381 A.D. (6 Shawwal, 782 Hijri).
The funeral prayer was said according to his will, Accordingly, Syed Ashraf Jahangir Semnani led the funeral prayers. His tomb lies at Badi Dargah (Bihar Sharif Nalanda), in a mosque to the east of a large tank, with masonry walls and ghats, and pillared porticos. The tomb is situated in an enclosure half filled with graves and ancient trees, on the north and west of which are three domed mosque and cloisters. His tomb is a place of sanctity for devout Muslims. A five-day Urs is celebrated every year from 5th Shawwal with traditional zeal.
https://kanchisilksarees.com/d3mp4l4x Biography: Aasim Bihari was born in Bihar Sharif and later moved to Kolkata. He led literacy campaigns and organised the Momin Ansari community. He founded several newspapers and Jamiatul Momineen, an organisation that advocated for Muslim weavers. He is considered one of the pioneering leaders of the Pasmanda movement in India. He died on 6 December 1953 in Allahabad.
Birth and education : He was born on 1 July 1905 at Dehri-on-Sone, Bihar. He was born in a wealthy Momin/Ansari family. After studying at Sasaram and Dehri-on-Sone High Schools, he went on to attend Aligarh Muslim University, Calcutta University, and Allahabad University, though his education was interrupted from time to time due to his active involvement in the struggle for India’s freedom.
Participation in freedom struggle of India and pre-independence period works: He was involved in the freedom struggle of India at a very early age and as a part of the same he left the government run school at his home town. He established a national school for the students who had boycotted government schools in response to the call of the Indian National Congress. For this he was arrested and imprisoned at the young age of 16 since it amounted to participation in Non-Cooperation and Khilafat Movements. He worked closely with the Indian National Congress throughout as a youth leader and even took part in the students’ agitation against the Simon Commission during its visit to Calcutta in 1928. Abdul Qaiyum Ansari was also an accomplished journalist, writer and poet. He was editor of Urdu weekly “Al-Islah” (The Reform) and an Urdu monthly “Musawat” (Equality) in the preindependence days.
Opposition to Muslim League and formation of Momin Movement: He opposed the communal policies of the Muslim League. Abdul Ansari was against the demand of Muslim League for creation of Pakistan by dividing India. To counter the demand of the Muslim League for a separate Muslim nation he started the Momin Movement. Under this banner he worked for the social, political, and also economic emancipation and upliftment of the backward Momin community which was at least half of India’s Muslim population then. Abdul Qaiyum Ansari remained President of All India Momin Conference throughout his life.
https://www.villageofhudsonfalls.com/juh5an5tkt Momin movement supported the Indian National Congress Party which he perceived to be fighting for freedom for a united India, and for the establishment and development of social equality, secularism, and democracy. He also worked for the welfare of artisan and weaver’s communities, and for the development of the handloom sector in the textile industry of the country.
His party fought the general elections of 1946 held on the basis of separate electorates and managed to win six seats in the Bihar Provincial Assembly against the Muslim League. Thus he became the first Momin to become a Minister of Bihar in the cabinet of Bihar Kesari Sri Krishna Singh and as a young minister earned the praise of both stalwarts Bihar Kesari Shri Babu and Bihar Vibhuti Anugraha Babu.click Eventually he dissolved the Momin Conference as a political body, and made it a social and economic organization. He was a Minister in the Bihar Cabinet for about seventeen years and held various important portfolios and discharged his responsibilities most ably, building up a reputation for selfless service and integrity.
Post-independence efforts: During the aggression of Pakistan on Kashmir in October 1947, he came forward as the first Muslim leader of India to condemn the same and strenuously worked to rouse the Muslim masses to counter such aggressions as true citizens of India. As an aftermath of this he founded the Indian Muslim Youth Kashmir Front in 1957 to “liberate” Azad Kashmir. Later on, he exhorted the Indian Muslims to support the Government of India in the anti-Indian uprising of the Razakars in Hyderabad during September 1948.
A champion of the poor and downtrodden, Abdul Qaiyum Ansari worked for the spread of education and literacy and the first All India Backward Classes Commission was appointed by the Government of India in 1953 largely at his initiative.
Death: Abdul Qaiyum Ansari died on 18 January 1973, at village Amiawar of Bihar, while inspecting damages caused to the village by the collapse of the Dehri-Arrah canal and organizing relief to its homeless people.
Legacy: On 1 July 2005, the Government of India released a postage stamp to commemorate him.
Current term for Bihari
Now the term ‘Biharis’ refers to the approximately 300,000 non-Bengali citizens of the former East Pakistan who remain stranded in camps in Bangladesh (many others have assimilated into the Bengali population). The Bihari minority – Urdu-speaking Muslims, generally Sunni, who migrated from Bihar and West Bengal during India’s Partition – have long been discriminated against for their perceived alliance with Pakistan during the independence war.
https://townofosceola.com/yntm8d7k1 Today many Biharis also live in Pakistan and India. Neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh agreed to grant citizenship to the Biharis (also called stranded Pakistanis) which resulted in their being effectively stateless since Bangladesh’s independence. Until a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that recognized their right to Bangladeshi nationality, many lacked formal citizenship and were therefore stateless. Most of these people originated from the north Indian state of Bihar.
Historical context
After the Partition in 1947 there was a mass movement of peoples between India and Pakistan. Although transfers of population took place largely across the Punjab, an exchange of population of 1.3 million people took place between East and West Bengal. The Partition of India also forced one million Muslims from Bihar into migration into East Bengal. Members of these communities came to be known collectively as Biharis in East Pakistan, although not all came from the north Indian state of Bihar.
Biharis belonged to the skilled working class primarily employed on the railways. On arrival in East Pakistan, Biharis found work as small traders, clerks, civil service officials, skilled railway and mill workers, and doctors. Many were appointed by Pakistani officials to replace educated Hindus in administrative jobs and in the mills. The Urdu-speaking Biharis became increasingly unpopular and were seen by Bengalis as symbols of West Pakistani domination, which created a climate of hostility against Biharis.
source In the December 1970 elections most Biharis supported the pro-Pakistan Muslim League rather than the Awami League, which was largely a Bengali nationalist movement. When the independent state of Bangladesh was formed in December 1971 several thousand Biharis were arrested as alleged collaborators, and there were many cases of retaliation against Biharis.
By mid-1972 the number of Biharis in Bangladesh was approximately 750,000. Some 278,000 were living in camps on the outskirts of Dhaka, another 250,000 were living around Saidpur in the north-west. Reconciliation programmes were initiated, and Urdu-speakers were taught Bengali in an effort to overcome the most obvious obstacle to their acceptance by Bengalis. However, there were, and remain, deep psychological barriers to overcome, and most Biharis feared further retaliation. The majority of Biharis in Bangladesh have consequently expressed a wish to be repatriated to Pakistan. The Pakistani government initially agreed to take 83,000 Biharis; the number was later increased. By 1974, 108,000 had been transferred to Pakistan, and by 1981, 163,000.
Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar, Bannu, Norang, Kohat
(under province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Lahore, Gujranwala Rawalpindi, Attock, Lala Musa, Multan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Sargodha, Sialkot, , Rahim Yar Khan, Jhang, Dera Ghazi Khan, Gujarat, Sahiwal, Chiniot, Hafizabad, Khanewal, Mandi Bahauddin, Jhelum, Daska, Gojran, Jaranwala, Lodhran, Hasilpur, Mianwali and Bhakkar
(under province of Punjab)
Sukkur, Hyderabad, Kotri, Dhabaji, Karachi
(under province of Sindh)
Quetta, Jhal Maksi, Jacobabad
(under province of Balochistan)
During the 1980s there were new initiatives to resettle Biharis in Pakistan but these have resulted in few concrete results. In July 1988, President Zia-ul-Haq, partly in the momentum of his rhetoric of Islamization and partly because of his own Mohajir background (see Pakistan) and genuine sympathy for the plight of Biharis, signed an agreement with the World Muslim League which provided for the resettlement of the Biharis.
https://mhco.ca/qccn3fru2k His assassination in August 1988 left the matter in limbo.
The outcome of Pakistan’s national elections in 1988 provided the Mohajir Quami Movement (MQM), which has been the most enthusiastic supporter of Bihari settlement in Pakistan, with an opportunity to extract concessions from the two main contenders for the government. A deal was struck with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in which the PPP promised that ‘all Pakistanis living abroad by choice or by compulsion had the same rights as citizens of Pakistan’. The terms of the agreement were ambiguous, and its realization seemed impossible in so far as the Biharis were concerned. The first air flight of Biharis from Bangladesh to Pakistan was cancelled in January 1989 after protests by the Sindhi National Alliance and Punjabi-Pakhtun Itehad.
The Bihari issue contributed immensely to the straining of relations between the MQM and the PPP in Pakistan, ultimately leading to the breakdown of the coalition. A new agreement stated that ‘all stranded Biharis in Bangladesh shall be issued Pakistan passports and in the meantime arrangements shall be made to repatriate them to Pakistan immediately.
Entering into such an ambitious programme of action was one thing, its implementation was quite another. Although settlement procedures for Biharis were initiated, with the first group of 323 Biharis arriving in Lahore in January 1993 and being housed near Okara in Punjab, further settlements had to be stalled, due largely to opposition both from within the ranks of the provincial governments and from the local population. The political, economic and cultural ramifications of a group of such numerical strength, as well as distinct ideological and political convictions, would, it was feared, generate tensions in Punjab while at the same time exacerbating already existing divisions in the urban Sindh.
source link The camps in Bangladesh still faced difficulties and discrimination. Their past allegiance to the West Pakistan army were not forgotten and led to attempts to try some Biharis on charges of war crimes during the Bangladesh war of independence in 1971. Biharis in Bangladesh generally described themselves as ‘stranded Pakistanis’, and some organized themselves into the Pakistani General Repatriation Committee, which advocated militant action to achieve repatriation. Camp conditions were in many cases appalling. The Bihari community as a whole felt humiliated and betrayed by successive Pakistan governments. Yet, existing political divisions in Pakistan made the prospect of their resettlement a forlorn hope. In a test-case during 2002 before the Bangladesh high courts, the petitioners (on behalf of the Biharis) were successful in obtaining the right to vote. This right was granted to limited number of Biharis in 2003.
Current issues
see url While lack of recognition has meant that for more than four decades a large proportion of the Bihari minority have been rendered effectively stateless, affecting almost every aspect of their lives including access to essential services such as education, in 2008 the Supreme Court formally recognized their right to Bangladeshi citizenship, calling for them to be listed on electoral cards and issued identification papers. This important step brought an end their lack of citizenship.
Buy Clonazepam 1Mg Tablets Even with their citizenship secured, however, the Bihari minority remain some of Bangladesh’s most marginalized communities. Today, Bangladesh’s Biharis live in 70 shanty towns that were initially temporary relief camps. The largest settlement, ‘Geneva Camp’, has 25,000 residents: it is estimated that only 5 percent have formal education.
https://aalamsalon.com/mxlhgbx3z0o As ownership of the settlements is uncertain and land prices have risen sharply, these areas have become increasingly attractive for investors. Many apparent incidents of communal violence against Biharis are intended to displace them from their land. On 14 June 2014, for instance, a Bengali mob attacked a Bihari settlement on the outskirts of Dhaka after an altercation broke out between communities, resulting in 10 deaths and widespread damage from arson. A local leader alleged that the attack was motivated by the desire of local politicians to evict the community.
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