Persecution of Biharis in Bangladesh

The Bihari ethnic minority in Bangladesh (also known as Stranded Pakistanis) were subject to persecution during and after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, (called the Civil War in Pakistan) experiencing widespread discrimination. Biharis largely maintained a pro-Pakistani stance, supported the Pakistan Armed Forces and opposed the independence of Bangladesh. Biharis faced reprisals from Bengali mobs and militias and from 1,000 to 150,000 were killed.

The Supreme Court of Bangladesh ruled Biharis eligible for Bangladesh citizenship in 1972, but about 500,000 chose repatriation to Pakistan. Some repatriation was implemented by the Red Cross over a number of years, but in 1978 the Pakistani government stripped Pakistanis remaining in Bangladesh of Pakistani citizenship. Researchers (such as Sumit Sen) maintain that the Pakistani government's denationalisation of the Biharis and reluctance to rehabilitate them in Pakistan are sufficient evidence of persecution to warrant refugee status. The Biharis have also faced institutionalised discrimination linked to their citizenship status, and many live in squalor in refugee camps.

Bihar (now a state in eastern India) was plagued by communal violence between Muslims and Hindus due to partition, along with the other former territories of British India. More than 30,000 Biharis were killed in October and November 1947, and it is estimated that up to one million migrated to East Pakistan.

According to the 1951 census, 671,000 Bihari refugees were in East Bengal; by 1961, the refugee population had reached 850,000. Broad estimates suggest that about 1.5 million Muslims migrated from West Bengal and Bihar to East Bengal in the two decades after the 1947 partition of India. Partition displaced up to 12.5 million people (with many casualties); millions of Muslims and Hindus migrated to the Dominions of Pakistan and India, respectively, and Hindus from modern-day Pakistan to India. Adherents of the two-nation theory believe that in addition to Pakistan, Muslims should have an independent homeland in Muslim-majority areas of India; this sparked the mass Muslim migration to the Dominion of Pakistan.

...
Wikipedia