The New Nation - Internet Edition

Zafar Iqbal Siddique

It was noted with much pleasure that the present Caretaker Government of Bangladesh took lot of pain and a bold decision to grant citizenship rights of Bangladesh to those Urdu speaking Muslim Settlers and their kin from India who were born after the birth of Bangladesh as well as to those settlers who were infants or did not take part in any activities prejudice to the creation of the free Bangladesh after long 37 years.

Especially, the young generation of the Urdu Speaking Muslim Settlers are much indebted to the Present Caretaker Government of Bangladesh, who realised the need to re-settle the unsettled people after such a long period of time. This decision gave the innocent people who never saw the Liberation Movement of Bangladesh nor they were at any time of their life were involved in any activities prejudicial to the cause of Bangladesh, a sense of direction and hope to carry on building their life as a minority community for the betterment of the society and living in Bangladesh as a peace-loving community and help develop the economy of Bangladesh as its peaceful citizens.

But, we could find that some sections of both the Urdu Speaking Community as well as the Bengali Speaking Community are opposed to the idea of the re-settlement of the innocent and destitute Urdu Speaking People and giving them the right of the citizenship of Bangladesh, as they have no place to go at this stage of their life, simply to exploit their cause to meet their own greedy needs. We think that this idea should henceforth be stopped to bring peace to the life of these miserable people. Rather, both the communities should come forward to make plans to re-settle these people who have lost their properties and homes in the worst carnage, which was no less than the carnage which happened in the Balkans after the breakup of the former Communist Republic of Yugoslavia in recent times.

To know the real facts and figures prior to 1971, it may be noted that the first batch of Urdu Speaking Muslims settled in the territory now comprising East Bengal as early as 1857 and afterwards, when large chunks of Muslims from the Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal Regions of present day India were fleeing the British fury of the so-called Sepoy Mutiny, also known as the First War of Independence against the British by both the Muslims and the Hindus of the Sub-continent of South Asia. Those Urdu Speaking Muslims mostly merged with the Bangali populations and created more solid foundations for the implantation of the Muslim culture in East Bengal. The traces of those Urdu speaking Muslims were the Nawah Families of Dhaka, Comilla, Sylhet, Bogra, Faridpur and the famous Panni Family of Tangail. Even, strong traces of Urdu Speakers are the present day Dhakaiyya Community of the Old Dhaka areas who are fusion between the Bengalis and the Urdu Speaking people. But, some of them still retaining their old culture, like the Shitees of the Old Dhaka. While, some remote traces are the people settled in Natore, Rajshahi, Chapai Nawabganj, Ghaffargaon, Tongi, Gazipur, Mirpur, etc., were people who spoke Urdu even until 1971. After 1971, the language was over-whelmed by the Bengali culture and subsequently the household language changed to Bengali.

The second wave of Urdu Speakers came after 1947, when the Sub-continent of India or South Asia was divided into two independent countries of India and Pakistan. This second wave of Urdu Speaking Muslims were mostly businessmen on one hand and ordinary workers (like the railway staffs of the Indian Railways) who migrated in large numbers to help the new country of Pakistan with efficient capitalist businessmen to make flourish its new industries on the one hand and to equip its industries, factories and essential transport system like the railways with efficient staffs and workers to man them effectively on the other hand at that period of time, when the Bengali population of the East Bengal Area (or East Pakistan as called after 1947) were mostly agriculturists and farmers and were less urbanised, except the Bengali and Marwari Hindus who controlled the business and administrative affairs of East Bengal prior to the partition of 1947.

Most of the second wave of Urdu Speaking Muslim population had settled in much of the North Bengal Region which was next to Bihar. However, large chunks of populations of Urdu Speakers who were mostly urbanized settled in Urban Areas of East Pakistan (prior to 1971), especially in Dhaka, Chittagong, Narayanganj, Khulna and Mymensingh, that also included other communities of people from India like the Bohri Shias, Ismailis or Aga Khanis, Memon Communities from the Gujarat Area of India, Surtis from Gujrat, Bombay and Burma, Madrasees from Tamil Nadu, Hyderabadis and Mysoris from South India. Even traces of Urdu Speaking Muslims settled in remote areas as far as Sylhet and Cox's Bazar, who were mostly businessmen or Pakistan Government employees.

The third wave of Urdu Speaking Muslims came to erstwhile East Pakistan in 1964 (that is after the riots of 1964 in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal). Those Urdu Speaking Muslims were generally settled in and around the Dhaka City like the areas called Muhammedpur and the Mirpur areas, which were systematically made as settled areas by Field Marshall Md. Ayub Khan, the Military Ruler of Pakistan from 1960 to 1969.

It may be noted that the Urdu Speaking Community until the end of 1969 stood almost 5 million strong, which also included a large population of the Pakistani Community from the Sind, the Punjab, the NWFP, the Baluchistan and the Kashmir areas, who were mostly the businessmen, government and administrative staffs, army, police, teachers, doctors, engineers, etc.

As soon as the downfall of Field Marshall Md. Ayub Khan became eminent in 1969, persecution of the Urdu Speakers started here and there due to the idea of exploitation of erstwhile Eastern Wing of Pakistan by the minority Urdu Speaking Community over the majority of the Bengalis, which subsequently led to the tension between the majority Bengali population and the Urdu Speaking Muslims.

During this period, most of the Pakistanis and some of the rich and affluent Urdu Speaking populations, which included some of the Ismailis, the Bohris, the Memons, the Surtis and the Gujratis alike started leaving for Pakistan or abroad for settling, with whom the fiight of capital also began, leaving the erstwhile Eastern Wing of Pakistan into disarray.

Soon after the elections of 1970, when Awami League became victorious in the general e1ections as the majority party of Pakistan, large scale killing of the Urdu Speaking people started leaving no doubt in the minds of the helpless people that it is no more possible for these people to stay in East Bengal Region anymore.

Again, another large scale migration of the rich and affluent class started, who mostly migrated to Pakistan or the Western Countries like the U.K., the U.S.A., East Africa, South Africa, Europe and Australia. But, until now the chunk of Urdu Speaking people, including the Pakistanis and other communities as a whole stood not more then 20% of the total population.

However, after the dismemberment of Pakistan on Dec. 16,1971 a large population of the Urdu Speaking Community, who mostly came in and after 1964 fled to India, which were in the figures of 2.5 million (or 25 lakh at the most), which settled in Bombay, Calcutta, Bangalore, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar; because these people had ready access to settle in their old homes and hearth from where they came. While, a million people had perished due to the war in 1971 at the hands of the Indian soldiers and their Bengali compatriots; whose traces were mixed up with the killed Bengali people of the East Bengal Region, who were in turn massacred by the Pakistani Army during the nine long months of the Liberation War of Bangladesh.

But, the worst sufferers were the poor people who came in 1947 who lost their hearth and homes long time back and were unable to migrate neither to India nor to Pakistan, which by 1971 were dwindled to a mere million people or Iess than that. Among the lot, half a million like the people from the Old Dhaka, etc., assimilated or merged with the majority people of Bangladesh, i.e., the Bengalis.

However, another half a million were undecided what to do, whether to go to Pakistan, who were promising time and again that they will take back their population by repatriation in due course. Alas, only a part materialised, when late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan agreed to repatriate about 142,000 people after 1971. While, another 3,000 hardship cases were repatriated by Prime Minister Muhammed Nawaz Sharif's Government during his tenure.

Still, some left on their own accord either to Pakistan or other countries by managing their own expenses as late as 2005. However, we find that still 300,000 to 400,000 people are either living in camps or loitering here and there, as they have no where to go due to bad economic conditions and no right to citizenship.

Hence, it is my appeal to all sensible people of both the Urdu Speaking Community as well as their Bengali brothers to look at the situation fairly and frankly and kindly let these unfortunate people who were born after 1971 to live in peace as good citizens of Independent Bangladesh, so that the economic activities generated by-them will be beneficial to the prosperity of Bangladesh in the years to come.