DHAKA: In Bangladesh, stranded Pakistanis or Biharis still hope that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would take an initiative to repatriate them to their motherland, according to Dr Ali Al-Ghamdi, a former Saudi diplomat and a specialist in the Southeast Asian affairs.
In an article published in the Saudi Gazette newspaper, he wrote that there were several people who hoped that this issue (of stranded Pakistanis) would be one of the top priorities of the government in Islamabad. However, he (Nawaz) seems to be preoccupied with some political issues and so far had not taken any steps to address the pressing issue of these hapless people.
“I once again appeal to PM Nawaz to give top priority to finding a permanent solution to the problem of the stranded Pakistanis through taking initiatives for their repatriation and rehabilitation in Pakistan,” Dr Al-Ghamdi wrote. In Pakistan, successive governments have failed to fulfill their promises in this regard, he reminded.
With miserable living conditions, the stranded Pakistanis are battling with poverty and diseases in their overcrowded camps located in various regions of Bangladesh. “I visited one of the largest camps in Dhaka while I was serving as charge de affaires at the Saudi Embassy there (in Bangladesh),” he wrote.
“I saw these people living like ‘animals’ and, hence, realised that it was the duty of every Muslim, in general, and Pakistanis, in particular, to extend all possible assistance to these people in alleviating their miseries,” he wrote. “My visit to the camp two decades ago was organised by Mir Quasem Ali, who was the then director of the Muslim World League (Rabita) in Bangladesh.”
He added, “He (Mir Ali) exerted great efforts to support the stranded Pakistanis as well as the Burmese refugees in their camps in Cox’s Bazar.” Mir Ali is now behind bars after being sentenced to death for ‘war crimes.’ He was sentenced to death at the end of an unjust farcical trial that lacked even the basic judicial standards and norms as pointed out by human rights organisations.
Since 1971, the Biharis are still languishing in these camps with the hope that they would, one day, be repatriated to Pakistan. Only late military ruler General Ziaul Haq took keen interest in the repatriation of these people and initiated the setting up of the Rabita Endowment, which was meant to take steps to ensure the repatriation of these stranded Pakistanis and put an end to their suffering.
After the death of General Zia, there were serious attempts to revive it when Nawaz became the then prime minister for the first time. He (Nawaz) took over the chairmanship of the Endowment and was instrumental in repatriating a number of the Bihari families.
They were accommodated in the houses built on land donated by the Punjab government. But the activities of the Endowment came to a halt with the end of his first tenure. When he came to power for the second time, he made some efforts to revive the Endowment again but the military coup staged by General Pervez Musharraf shattered the plan. “Musharraf shut down the Endowment and paid no heed to the demand of the stranded Pakistanis,” Dr Al-Ghamdi wrote.
