Besides  having  a  rendezvous  with  old friends  there, I also had  the  opportunity of meeting Engr. Ehsan. He is very well known as a dedicated  and  devoted  spirit  behind promoting the cause  of  repatriation  of  the  erstwhile forgotten people (known as  the stranded Pakistanis) living in a sub-human conditions in  shanty camps  in  Bangla Desh. Agile team of his, under the banner of Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC), is doing  a  fine job in keeping this issue of repatriation alive and  has  been  quite  effective  so  far  in  offering moral support to these poor stranded Pakistanis who are  yearning  for  years  to  be  repatriated to Pakistan. PRC is a non-political and a non-profit making body which was founded in Karachi way back in 1971 by the  young  students (from former East Pakistan) to promote  the  cause  of  repatriation of their kith & kin stranded  in  there, due  to  fall of Dhaka. Ehtesham Uddin Arshad (a one time student leader now working for PRC in the US) was then  the  main  spirit behind it. Although PRC voices the cause of the stranded Pakistanis, it has over  the years been able to project this issue as a pure humanitarian one which needed  support of all Pakistanis alike irrespective of his/her ethnic leaning. This is the reason, as explained by Engr. Ehsan, the  PRC  organization structure now has on board people represented from all ethnic background.

The events before and after 1971, culminating  in  the transformation of the then East Pakistan into Bangla Desh, were  a big human tragedy  for  the  Indo-Pak sub-continent. The only prior precedent is the human catastrophe seen after  the  partition  of the British India into a Hindu India and a  Muslim Pakistan  in  1947. In both these  events millions  of  innocent lives were lost who fell prey to the madness of hate fuelled  by  the selfish politicians. Although millions of innocent people died and/or were rendered homeless  in  the Punjab, the scene of the worst riot (on both sides of the divide) the Biharis (Muslim minority  in  the Hindu-majority Indian State of Bihar) were perhaps the most unfortunate of them all.

The Biharis became victims of  premeditated  hate campaign geared  by  the extremist Hindus right before and after the partition in 1947. Millions of innocent men, women & children were murdered and an  equal  number  of  them  were  rendered homeless. These resulted  in a mass exodus of the Muslim refugees who escaped  to  the then East Bengal (which being a Muslim majority area had then  become  the  eastern wing  of  the  newly created Pakistan) for refuge and shelter. In the then East Pakistan the local Bengali  populace had  welcomed them, at that time, with open arms but historically over the years things didn’t remain as pleasant as before; the history has recorded numerous reasons  for the same. But most importantly, after the 1970  elections (the first ever of  the United Pakistan, based  on one-man-one-vote), the events that followed resulted in an army action by the then Pakistani Military Government. The army was able to quell, temporarily though, the mutiny in former East Pakistan. And, the Urdu speaking populace, driven by  their sheer patriotic feelings for Pakistan, had openly sided, abetted and collaborated with  the  controlling Pakistan army. As  a  result, they became  an  easy target of hate campaign all over again before and after  the December16, 1971 debacle (for the 2^nd time after1947)when Pakistan was dismembered  and  Bangla Desh  was created with the help and connivance of its arch enemy India. Hundreds & thousandths  of them were brutally murdered (a repeat of 1947) and equal number rendered homeless. Many of them (especially those with some economic effluence) were  able  to  escape (a large number  of  them  before the fall and  some after) and then finally were  able  to  reach  the  then  West Pakistan. Some non-Bengali civilians were also lucky to be taken  POWs  (Prisoners of War) along  with the Pakistan army (who had negotiated a cease fire with India) and finally  also  managed  to reach the then West Pakistan. But those poor  and  unfortunate ones, who were  neither  lucky  to  have been taken  POWs nor were  effluent  enough  to  muster  resources  to  escape (and finally  migrate to the  then West Pakistan, like others before them) were left alone at the mercy of the hostile Mukti Bahani; the Mukti Bahanis were  the  stooges  and  cohorts of  the invading Indian army who were mostly responsible for the excesses done.

One can imagine what  it  is like  to  be  captive  in  the  siege  of  hostile and freaking out gun wielding local populace who  is  already inebriated with joy of their new found independence. Events that followed are very well recorded  in  the history and speak volumes of degradation of Humanity. In short the miseries, that followed, resulted  in  the  66 Refugee Camps (called Geneva Camps because they are managed by  Geneva based ICRC; acronym for International Committee of Red Cross) spread all over Bangla Desh. In these shanty habitats, which present pictures  of ghettos, these  poor  Pakistanis (who  once  migrated  from  their  well established homes in undivided India  to  live peacefully  in  their  newly found Country called Pakistan) were literally  dumped  with  little  or  no  basic  amenities. They  were  offered  citizenship of Bangla Desh  but  they  refused   and   hoisted   the   Pakistani flags,  instead,  in  their  camps demonstrating their unfettered resolve to return to Pakistan gracefully as Pakistanis only.

But on the other hand, the  irony of the matter  is  that they are still being denied their right to return to the Country for which they  have  waited too long really. Its been over 30 years since then during which young have grown old and old have perished with their dreams unrealized.

According to reports  documented  by PRC, some 100,000 plus  were repatriated  by  the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1973, as per  Simla Accord  signed between India & Pakistan. Later in July 1988, an  agreement  was  signed  between the Government of the Late Gen. Zial Ul Haq  and  the  Muslim World League (known  as Rabta Alame Islami) resulting in establishment  of  a  TRUST  to foresee the repatriation of the stranded Pakistanis. Later in 1993, following  the  spirit  of  this  agreement, additional  few  hundreds  more  were  repatriated by the Government of  the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, although there was a plan in place to repatriate  at least a 1000 families  for  which  housings  were built also which are still lying vacant to date. Ever since the matter stands politicized unnecessarily and further repatriation is on halt since then.