Portrait 013

Portrait 013

Raju, 12, lives in Sordar Bahadur Bihari Colony, with his family that consists 5 sisters
and 3 brothers. The Biharies, mostly known as 'Stranded Pakistani' speak in Urdu and have their own culture. About half a million of these Urdu speaking people currently live in 66 crowded camps in Dhaka and 13 others regions across Bangladesh. In the wake of the communal riots and the subsequent partition of the subcontinent in 1947 this group of people moved across the border of what then became the eastern wing of Pakistan. The creation of Bangladesh in 1971 put these people in a stateless situation. Post independence Bangladesh scorned the Biharis for having supporting the Pakistan army. With neither country offering citizenship, the Biharis have remained stateless for 36 years having no civil rights. In May 2003 a high court ruling in Bangladesh allowed 10 Biharis to obtain citizenship and voting rights, the ruling also exposed a generation gap amongst Biharis, with younger Biharis tending to being "elated" with the ruling but with many older people "despairing at the enthusiasm" of the younger generation. Many Biharis now seek greater civil rights and citizenship in Bangladesh.