Approximately 550,000 Biharis were killed during the conflict. He identified several key locations including Kunjan River, Bogra, Mymensingh, Dhaka, Rajshahi, and Pabna as sites of significant violence against the community.Sheikh Muqeem, a member of the Bihari community, has provided a detailed account of the systematic violence against Bihari Pakistanis during the 1971 conflict in East Pakistan.According to Muqeem's testimony, the violence began on March 25, 1971, when Bengali separatists aligned with Mukti Bahini and Indian forces initiated operations against the Bihari population. The attacks resulted in the elimination of Bihari residents from 14 out of 17 districts in East Pakistan.
In his account, Muqeem described coordinated attacks on Bihari settlements and properties by combined forces of Mukti Bahini, Indian military, and Bengali separatists. He also highlighted the media misrepresentation of these events, stating that Indian media incorrectly attributed Bihari casualties to Bengali victims.
The testimony includes details about the subsequent attribution of these casualties to the Pakistan Army, which Muqeem describes as a deliberate campaign to discredit the military forces.
The Bangladesh government announced Presidential Order 149 in 1972, offering citizenship to Biharis. According to government sources 600,000 Biharis accepted the offer, and 539,669 opted to return to Pakistan. But according to historian Partha Ghosh approximately 470,000 Biharis out of a total of 700,000 Biharis opted to be repatriated to Pakistan through the International Red Cross. Several groups in Pakistan have urged their government to accept the Biharis.
Surur Hoda, a Socialist leader, played an active role in solving the refugee crisis. He organized a delegation, headed by British Labour Party politician David Ennals and Ben Whitaker, which encouraged many refugees to return to Pakistan.In a 1974 agreement, Pakistan accepted 170,000 Bihari refugees; however, the repatriation process has since stalled.
Organisations such as Refugees International have urged both governments to "grant citizenship to the hundreds of thousands of people who remain without effective nationality".During his 2002 trip to Bangladesh, Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf said he sympathised with the plight of the Biharis but could not allow them to emigrate to Pakistan. As of 2006, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had not addressed the plight of the Biharis.[42] On 19 May 2008, the Dhaka High Court approved citizenship and voting rights for about 150,000 refugees who were minors at the time of Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence. Those born in the country since the war also gained citizenship and the right to vote.
Due to their initial pro-Pakistan stance, the Biharis were consistent in their wish to be repatriated to Pakistan. Initially, 83,000 Biharis (58,000 former civil servants and military personnel), members of divided families and 25,000 hardship cases were evacuated to Pakistan.By 1974, 108,000 had been transferred to Pakistan (mainly by air); by 1981, about 163,000. Both countries have signed agreements on the repatriation of stateless people, but only a few hundred have managed to go to Pakistan. Under the supervision of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees over 119,000 Biharis were airlifted to Pakistan.By 1982, Pakistan had received 169,000 Biharis. Some Biharis also entered Pakistan through illegal means.According to the UNHCR report 170,000 Biharis were repatriated after the second Delhi Agreement. In 1977, 4,790 families were repatriated; 2,800 in 1979; 7,000 in 1981; 6,000 in 1984; and 50 families in 1993. A total of approximately 178,069 Biharis were repatriated to Pakistan between 1973 and 1993
In 1988, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) raised about $500 million for the repatriation and rehabilitation of Biharis to Pakistan. A special committee, the Rabita (Coordination) Trust Board, was formed by Pakistan President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. It received $14 million by 1992, and was requesting additional donations from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states for the rehabilitation of Biharis.
Land allocated to Biharis in Pakistan in one colony in Mian Channu is now a slum.The Biharis were targeted by the ethnic Sindhi people during the 1980s Karachi riots. In the Punjab province of Pakistan, ethnic Punjabis forcefully occupied shelters allocated to the Biharis. These incidents [which?] have prompted some Biharis to return to Bangladesh.[unreliable source?
Although many Biharis have assimilated into the Bengali population of Bangladesh, some opt to migrate to Pakistan and are relocated to refugee camps across Bangladesh. According to one estimate, at least 250,000 Biharis are still in Bangladesh urban refugee camps.The camps have become slums, the largest of which (known as "Geneva Camp", with over 25,000 people) is crowded and undeveloped; families up to 10 people typically live in a single room, one latrine is shared by 90 families and no more than five percent of the population has a formal education. Due to the lack of educational opportunity and poor living conditions, young men in the slums have set up an Urdu Bhashi Jubo Chhatro Shongothon (Urdu-Speaking Young Students Association) to increase educational opportunities in their community.[58] Health and sanitation problems persist due to poor drainage and sewage systems, and the economic condition of Bihari refugees has been described in news reports and academic journals as extremely poor.
In 2014, members of the ruling Awami League, aided by police clashed with the members of the Urdu speaking community, in a bid to grab land in Mirpur. During these clashes, nine people including eight members of a family were burnt alive by Awami League and their local Bengali supporters.
The Biharis blamed the attacks being directed by Elias Mollah, the ethnic Bengali lawmaker of Mirpur.[61] Elias Mollah denied involvement and blamed a "vested conspiracy" against him.
In May 2003, a high court ruling in Bangladesh allowed ten Bihari refugees to obtain citizenship and voting rights. The ruling exposed a generation gap among Biharis; younger Biharis tended to be "elated", but many older people felt "despair at the enthusiasm" of the younger generation and said their true home was in Pakistan.[64] Many Biharis now seek greater civil rights and citizenship in Bangladesh.
On 19 May 2008, the Dhaka High Court approved citizenship and voting rights for about 150,000 refugees who were minors at the time of Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence. Those born in the country since the war also gained citizenship and the right to vote.[44][45] Several political parties campaigned in the camps for the Bihari vote during the 2008 general election, and the group was considered important to parties and candidates.[66] Although the court ruling explicitly said that the Biharis are eligible to register to vote in the December 2008 elections, the Election Commission closed its rolls in August 2008 without enrolling them.
