| Excerpts
from 'Biharis in Bangladesh'
Book by Dr. Mizan ur Rahman, professor in Faculty of Law, Dhaka University, Bangladesh. |
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| Thus this binds duty upon
not only Bangladesh but also upon the international community to take
steps to ensure the rights of the Biharis as human beings.
The Biharis in Bangladesh(especially the camp-dwellers) are passing
their days in a horrible situation. They never enjoy any rights
automatically, as they are not considered to be citizens of Bangladesh.
Human dignity of the Biharis is being undermined and undervalued.
They are being constantly intimidated and as such humiliated an
all aspects of their life. Many of their inherent and inalienable
rights are being breached;
“In most cases, they have no right to hold property outside
the camps. They were dispossessed from their property after the
liberation war in 1971, and afterwards they were prevented from
acquiring property.” |
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Tale of Jainab Bibi.
Jainab Bibi is a lady of 65 years of age. She lived in harmony
and happiness with her family, consisting of her husband and 5
sons, at Mission Road of Dinajpur until the liberation war in
1971. Her brother-in-law along with his wife resided with them.
Jainab’s husband was from a very well-off family having
huge property that included homestead and agricultural land in
Dinajpur. In 1971, Jainab lost all male members of her family
allegedly in the hands of the Bengalis. The two female survivors
were dispossessd from their home and agricultural land. After
the war, Jainab’s sister-in-law could manage a dwelling
place with the help of one of her relatives. But Jainab was left
in a distressed situation: no shelter over her head, no source
of income, and even no blood relations to stand by. She was drawn
to begging from door to door for a living. She sleeps in a small
room with thatched roofs, which even had no lavatory. In the dark
tiny room, her only company is boundless misery!
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Besides, a
very few individual camp-dwellers also have bank accounts in their
own names. Shamin Alam(27 years old) who is a proprietor of a barber
shop has thee accounts in his own name.
The daily income of a Bihari camp-living family, we can experience
in almost every case that the amount varies from 30 to 40 taka (maximum)
per day, which is not sufficient for their daily expenditures. They
also have no savings.
It is evident in the fact that they suffer from severe malnutrition.
They eat the least. Majority of them eat only once a day. They cannot
fulfill their basic needs. Some of the girls and women of the camps
also work as maidservants in rich families and, as we were told
during our field visits, they get only 60-70 taka per month.
Biharis residing in the camps are one of the most poverty stricken
people in Bangladesh. Their poverty is deep-rooted, infinitive and
multi-faceted.
Birth rate is very high and their children are malnourished. The
Biharis are the most distressed and deprived community in Bangladesh. |
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Lack of opportunities in education is one of the
key-factors preventing them from coming out of poverty. The prerequisites
fro eradication of their poverty is to change the Bengalese’
traditionally fixed attitude towards them.
The camp dwellers commonly have no voting rights. But, there are
alleged instances of casting fake votes on their parts. There
are instances when a newly elected government excludes the common
Bihari voters from a new list probably just because their votes
have every possibility to be cast for the opposition side. The
Biharis at Ispahani Camp #3 in Rangpur, for example, had been
exercising their right to vote till 1991. But suddenly the new
voter list that year did not include them. Again, a Bihari government
employee at Mirpur, Dhaka, had been exercising his voting right
since independence of Bangladesh. But after the termination of
his job in government service in 1996, his voting right was cancelled.
Following International Law Commission’s conclusions, both
the Governments of Bangladesh and Pakistan should provide a fresh
option to the Biharis about repatriation to Pakistan and integration
in Bangladesh. Those who would opt for Pakistan should be repatriated
and those who would express to be integrated in Bangladesh should
be provided with Bangladeshi nationality and all forms of supports
in line.
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The problem
of Biharis should not be considered from the view point of politics,
rather a humanitarian and human rights prespective is needed.
Md. Hasan, A Bihari youth, thus exclaimed during an intercommunity
dialogue on the future of the Bihari Youth in Bangladesh in 2000.
He alleged that receiving local commissioner’s certificate
has been a major problem. Such certificates are needed for getting
job and a host of other reasons. He referred the case of 12-13 year
old child could not be admitted in a orphanage due to lack of such
a document.
“Urdu speaking children are not admitted in the government
schools if they use their camp addresses. Therefore, it has become
a common trend for the Biharis not to disclose their identity. These
school goers have been found to persuade their parents not to visit
their schools in fear of their identity being disclosed. Discrimination
continues even after their admission. They are ignored in the class
by the teachers and students. |
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The adults do not want to remain illiterate any
longer. Abdul Qaium, as the leader of Hathikhana camp in Saidpur
told us that their first demand is to ensure education for their
children.
It is pertinent to note that Bangladesh has ratified the CRC.
Abandonment by the husbands and divorce are rare among the Biharis.
A large family consisting of ten to twelve members lives in a
room of eight by eight feet. At Hathikhana and Munshipara camps
of Saidpur, people are living together with domestic birds and
animals in one single room in an unhygienic condition. At Ispahani
camp, Rangpur, we have seen some people set up tube wells in their
eight by ten feet room as there is no place to set them up outside
the house. They do their dish and cloth washing, wash their children
in the same room where they live. They cook their food in the
same room, where they live, thus making the whole environment
very suffocating. In this camp, the rooms are built in rows; face
to face; with a small pathway between the rows.
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There are
several rows in this camp. The rows in which latrines are situated
are comparatively cleaner than those in which there are no latrines.
Children dispose in the drains in front of their rooms. Adults also
dispose there at night where houses are situated far from the latrines.
Drains full of dirty things (Human excrement) in front of their
houses are just at the distance of one or two feet. One can easily
imagine their misery during the rainy days when dirty water of the
drains spills over (in to) their houses.
Most of the camp dewellers complain of diarrhea to be a common disease
among them.
Cleaners of the city Corporations/municipalities do not enter into
the camp. Lack of water and sewerage facilities contribute to conditions
in which women can not take adequate care of themselves and their
children’s health and hygiene, and thus are faced with various
health problems. There is garbage everywhere with a stench in the
air. In most camps there is no space to expand
Unique Displacement
Rasulan Bibi, aged eighty three years, is an inhabitant of Balures
Camp, Saidpur. She migrated from India fleeing from the communal
riots on the eve of partition of British India. Their family settled
in Parbitipur. However, after independence of Bangladesh in 1971,
she along with others was moved to Belures Camp. In the mean time,
her husband died leaving a son and seven unmarried daughters. She
struggled but managed to give her daughters in marriage giving a
dowry of Tk 9,000 for each. Three of the daughters left for Pakistan
in 1974. Since then, she is living with her son and four daughters
with their husbands in a single room of 8 feet by 8 feet. Rasulan
Bibi makes a desperate effort to guarantee conjugal privacy of her
daughters by making partitions with sarees. She condemns herself
as she thinks that her mere presence in that tiny room is an intrusion
into her daughter’s private life. |
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In most houses a bedstead is the only furniture
which is hardly enough for eight or nine members of the family
to sleep on. While interviewing the camp-dwellers, we came to
know that some members sleep on the bedstead, some beneath it
and some on the floor besides it.
Nevertheless, in case of any development program, these people
are totally neglected.
They were victims of killing, ransacking, gang rape, forced marriage
and various other crimes at that time (1971).
Might is Right: At Baroil colony, Dinajpur, Shamim Ahmed, a Bengalee,
has a rice mill adjacent to the cultivable land belonging to one
Arman, a Bihari resident of the same colony. Shamim Ahmed intended
to expand his rice-mill for which he needed some extra land. He
cast his eyes on Arman’s land. The market value of that
land is Tk 2,500,000. But Shamim Ahmed induced Arman to sell it
at a nominal price of Tk 200,000 only. When Jasim, another Bihari
resident of the same colony came to know this, he demanded of
Shamim to pay the market price for the land. A meeting was arranged
to settle the transaction but Shamim resorted to intimidation.
The meeting was abandoned. After a few days, Shamim began encroaching
on Arman’s land. When the latter protested, Shamim threatened
to evict him by force. At this point, Jasim along with a few other
sympathizers stood in Shamim’s way.
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Being furious
at the audacity of a Bihari, Shamim filed a false case of extortion
against Jasim. After three months of imprisonment, Jasim is now
on bail and the case is still pending. Arman lost the last piece
of land he had owned since long.
A report was published in the daily Prothom Alo on June 7, 2001
that City Corporation smashed with bulldozer 84 shops, 1 madrasa
and 25 houses in Geneva Camp situated at Mirpur.on the 29th of April
without giving any prior notice. This unlawful and inhuman eviction
was committed in spite of 6 months injunction imposed by the High
Court Division. There were also incidences of looting at the time
of eviction, but the administration did not take any action in this
respect.
Biharis are reluctant to acknowledge any incident of trafficking.
We have found some cases which are similar to that of trafficking.
At Chamra Godown Camp, Saidpur, one girl, Parveen, was taken to
Pakistan by some people in the camp some ten years ago. But her
relatives in Pakistan do not know her present whereabouts. These
people are telling Parven’s sister that they have given her
in marriage in Pakistan but are refusing to give her address. This
raises doubts as to whether Parveen ever reached her destination
or became a victim of trafficking. |
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The young generation has nothing to cherish for
they have been experiencing the miseries of the camp life since
their birth. Time has come that we should venture to emancipate
these wretched and be-wildered people from the agony of camp life
and bring them to such a position where they can identify themselves
as human beings with common wishes and aspirations of a normal
life.
Right after our independence many Bihari students were expelled
from the schools. Role of the Biharis was the single largest reason
for this. But after more than 30 years they are getting the same
treatment from the school authorities. Another person complained
that his son preferred to go to school for admission with his
Bengalee neighbour to conceal his Bihari identity. That saved
him (the son) from being humiliated by other boys and teachers.
Bihari businessmen face extortion of a larger magnitude than their
Bengalee counterparts. They complain of lack or total absence
of credit facilities.
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