BIHARI UPDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000224

SIPDIS

CORRECTED COPY--PARAS RE-NUMBERED

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/18/2015
TAGS: PREF BG PINR PHUM PTER
SUBJECT: BIHARI UPDATE

REF: 04 DHAKA 02463

Classified By: Polcouns D.C. McCullough for reason para 1.5d


1. (SBU) Summary: While Bihari spokesmen continue to press
for resettlement in Pakistan, many Biharis are integrating
themselves into local life and say they want Bangladeshi
citizenship. End Summary.

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Background
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2.(SBU) The Biharis are an internally displaced group of
Urdu-speaking people who supported Pakistan in the 1971 war
of independence. They are neither Bangladeshi nor Pakistani
citizens, and now number about 300,000 in 68 camps throughout
Bangladesh. Many Biharis have jobs on the local economy and
educate their children, illegally, in Bangladeshi schools.
The self-appointed spokesmen of the Biharis, the Stranded
Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee (SPGRC),are based
in Dhaka and insist the only solution for Biharis is
resettlement in Pakistan.


3. (SBU) In 1971, the BDG, in a gesture to national
reconciliation, offered Bangladeshi citizenship to the
Biharis. The Biharis declined believing they would return to
Pakistan soon and settled in camps in Dhaka, Chittagong,
Khulna, Saidpur, and Ishurdi. These camps, popularly known as
Geneva camps, were set up under the Geneva Convention and
initially run by the International Red Cross. Almost half
the Bihari population made it over the years to Pakistan,
which in 1993 declared an end Bihari emigration. In 2003, a
Bangladeshi High Court ruling granted 10 Biharis voting
rights.

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Current Situation
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4. (SBU) On January 13, Poloff and Pol FSN visited the
largest camp in Dhaka, Geneva Camp, and a neighboring smaller
camp, Community Center Camp. The camps resemble normal
Bangladeshi slum neighborhoods, with uncontrolled access, no
fencing, and no special security. With few latrines for the
entire camp, sanitation is poor and crowding is severe. Many
Biharis have jobs or run small shops outside the camps. In a
random sampling, inhabitants--including three mothers with
children--stated that Biharis and some Bengalis rent homes in
the camps from Biharis who have semi-ownership of the plots.


5. (SBU) The BDG provides free electricity and water supply,
along with 3 kg of wheat per person per month. However, camp
residents said, food rations are irregular and stopped
several months ago. Camp residents and SPGRC spokesmen
separately stated there was previously small aid from
Islamist NGO's like Rabita Trust and Muslim Aid, but now
there are no international organizations or NGO's providing
comprehensive services to Biharis.


6. (SBU) Recently, Poloff met with Nigel McCollum, a city
councillor from England, who is spending a month in
Bangladesh investigating the Bihari situation as the
representative of a group of concerned British politicians
called the Dhaka Initiative. The group, McCollum said, wants
to raise awareness about the Biharis with international
donors, the European Commission, and local diplomatic
missions to put pressure on the BDG to do more for the
Biharis.


7. (C) In a review of camp conditions, McCollum asserted that
the camps are becoming a recruiting ground for Islamic
extremist groups and that Rabita Trust and other Islamist
NGO's have given substantial aid to Biharis. On January 19,
a German-Filipino missionary couple who has been doing
vocational training with the Biharis for seven years told
Poloff that Kuwati and Saudi NGO's reportedly provide aid to
the camps.


8. (C) At at small madrassah in Geneva camp that seemed to
teach mostly young boys and girls, in Urdu and Arabic, the
teacher identified education and health care as the Biharis
most pressing problems. The teacher, a Bihari who lives
outside the camps, stated there was no NGO or local political
party presence in the camps.

9.(SBU) Poloff also met with UNHCR Bangladesh Deputy
Representative Mulusew Mamo, who stated that UNHCR has little
knowledge about the Biharis. UNHCR, he said, could do
nothing for Biharis because they are not an official refugee
group. .


10. (SBU) SPGRC spokesmen reiterated to poloff that only
resettlement in Pakistan could resolve their situation, but
that they receive no cooperation from the BDG or GOP.
McCollum and the missionary couple alleged that the SPGRC
wants to stick with the status quo because they make money
out of the current situation by skimming off NGO and other
aid for Biharis. Camp residents, however, insisted that the
great majority of Biharis recognize that Pakistan is not an
option and prefer to stay in Bangladesh and take up
Bangladeshi citizenship (reftel). Younger Biharis were
particularly adamant that their future is in Bangladesh, that
they were born in Bangldesh and speak better Bangla than Urdu.

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Comment
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11. (C) There's a logic to the allegation that Islamists are
active in Bihari camps, which presumably contain at least
some disaffected young Muslims who feel alienated from the
Bangladeshi mainstream. However, we are unaware of any
specific corroborating evidence, and note that the radical
Islam card is often played here in a bid to generate
international engagement. When Poloff visited the Dhaka
camps, there were no obvious manifestations of Islamist
activity -- posters, literature, or "special areas."
However, the Urdu and Arabic curriculum of the small
madrassah at Geneva camp suggests an affiliation with
so-called qawmi mosques, which support radical Islamist
groups like IOJ, instead of the more mainstream aliyah
mosques which have links to the BDG. In 2004, pursuant to UN
sanctions, the BDG closed the Bangladesh office of Rabita
Trust; we are unaware of any continuing Rabita Trust presence
in Bangladesh.
THOMAS