Bihari diaspora
| Languages | |
|---|---|
| Bhojpuri,Maithili,Magahi,Angika,Bajjika,Urdu,English Caribbean EnglishandCaribbean Hindustani(inCaribbean) Fiji Hindi,Pidgin Fi gian,and English (inFiji) South African English,Afrikaans,and Naitali Bhojpuri (inSouth Africa) French,English,Mauritian Creole,andMauritian Bhojpuri(inMauritius) Seychellois Creole,French, and English (inSeychelles) | |
| Religion | |
Predominantly: HinduismMinority:  Islam, Christianity |
Bihari diasporaare the people fromBiharwho resides outside ofIndia.
Pakistan and Bangladesh[edit]
During the partition of India in 1947, many Biharis moved to bothWest PakistanandEast Pakistan,where they were counted among otherMuhajirsand still are in present-day Pakistan. About one million Urdu speakers moved to what was thenEast Bengaladjacent to their Bihar province in eastern India.[1]
When East Pakistan became the independent state of Bangladesh in December 1971, 83,000 Biharis (58,000 former civil servants and military personnel) wanting to leave being ethnic Urdu-speakers, 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. The remaining Biharis of East Bengal were left behind and found themselves unwelcomed in both countries. Pakistan did not wish to accept the Biharis left in the newly formed Bangladesh as it saw itself a struggling to manage thousands ofAfghan refugeesat that time,[2]while Bangladeshis scorned the ethnic Biharis for having supported and sided with the West Pakistan during the war and preferring their native Urdu over theBengali Language Movement.
With little or no legal negotiation about offering the Biharis Pakistani citizenship or safe conduit back home to their native Bihar in India, the Biharis (called "stranded Pakistanis" by some Bangladeshi politicians) have remained stateless for 33 years. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has not addressed the plight of the Biharis. An estimated 600,000 Biharis live in 66 camps in 13 regions across Bangladesh, and an equal number have acquired Bangladeshi citizenship. In 1990, a small number of Biharis were allowed to immigrate to Pakistan.
Pakistan has reiterated that as the successor state of East Pakistan, Bangladesh should accept the Biharis as full citizens. Pakistani politicians and government officials have refused to accept these nearly 300,000 stranded Pakistanis of Bihari origin due to inability to absorb such a large number of immigrants at the moment.
In May 2008, a Bangladeshi court ruled that Biharis who were eitherminorsin 1971 or born after 1971 are Bangladeshi citizens and have the right to vote.[3][4]As a result of the ruling, an estimated 150,000 of the 300,000 Biharis living in Bangladesh are eligible for Bangladeshi citizenship.[4]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.[5]
Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius, Myanmar, South Africa and Seychelles[edit]
A large number of people from the Bhojpuri speaking regions ofBihar Provinceof British India travelled to various parts of the world in the 19th century to serve asindentured labourson sugarcane, cocoa, rice, and rubber plantations in theCaribbean,Fiji,Mauritius,Myanmar,SeychellesandNatal, South Africa.
A majority ofIndo-MauritiansareBihari Mauritians,so are a proportion ofIndo-Seychellois(second largest, since South Indians form a majority of the country's ethnic Indians) as well as a portion ofIndian South Africans(fourth largest subgroup in the country afterGujaratis,TamilsandTelugus).[6]Most of the Mauritian Prime Ministers or Presidents were Indo-Mauritians of Bihari descent.[7]ManyIndo-Caribbeansare of Bhojpuri descent[8]or hail from theAwadhregion inUttar Pradesh.[9]
References[edit]
- ^Haq, Farhat (November 1995). "Rise of the MQM in Pakistan: Politics of Ethnic Mobilization".Asian Survey.35(11): 995.doi:10.2307/2645723.JSTOR2645723.
- ^"Musharraf wraps up Bangladesh visit".BBC News.31 July 2002. Archived fromthe originalon 4 May 2004.Retrieved16 March2019.
The president said while he had every sympathy for the plight of thousands of people in Bangladesh known as 'stranded Pakistanis', he could not allow them to emigrate to Pakistan. The president said he would do everything possible to resolve the issue, but at the moment, Pakistan is still struggling to accommodate thousands of Afghan refugees.
- ^"Court rules that young Biharis are Bangladesh citizens"Archived19 November 2016 at theWayback Machine.Reuters.19 May 2008.
- ^ab"Citizenship for Bihari refugees"Archived25 July 2017 at theWayback Machine.BBC News. 19 May 2008.
- ^"Bangladesh fails to register its Urdu-speaking citizens as voters".Thaindian News.Indo-Asian News Service.15 August 2008. Archived fromthe originalon 4 March 2016.Retrieved14 July2020.
- ^"Mauritians will be able to track Bihar roots more easily".Thaindian News.Indo-Asian News Service. 2008-02-19. Archived fromthe originalon 18 July 2013.Retrieved2013-07-18.
- ^"The Indian Diaspora".Pink Pigeon Press.Retrieved2013-07-18.
- ^"THE EXPERIENCE OF INDIAN INDENTURE IN TRINIDAD: ARRIVAL AND SETTLEMENT".caribbean-atlas.Retrieved2020-12-17.
- ^"How Hindi travelled to these five countries from India".The Indian Express.2020-09-14.Retrieved2020-12-17.