Refugee a person fleeing from oppressive or dangerous conditions (such as political, religious or military persecutions) and seeking refuge in a foreign country. Discrimination against particular racial, religious or political groups have historically posed into threats to life and liberty, precipitating the flight of refugees, in many instances across national boundaries and without guarantee of asylum. Thereafter, the displaced people have sought to re-establish their lives as the opportunity afforded. The estimated total number of refugees in Asia at the end of 2000 was 7,308,860, of whom 21,627 were in Bangladesh (21,556 from Myanmar, 34 from Somalia, 27 from Iran, 2 from Sri Lanka, 2 from Afghanistan, and 6 from Sierra Leone).

Following the partition of Bengal in 1947, political antagonism between India and Pakistan affected East Pakistan both demographically and economically much more than the less populated and industrially developed West Pakistan. Accompanying the partition was a wave of religious rioting, murder and arson together with mass displacement of population across the newly established borders of India and the two wings of Pakistan. Consequently, a demographically significant population shift affecting regional population distribution by religion took place on the basis of religion-communal criteria. Shortly after partition, the concentration of population by religious beliefs became more exclusive and distinctive as a result of selective population exchange based on religion. According to the Indian census sources, India received 2.55 million Hindu refugees from East Bengal. In exchange, East Bengal received 0.70 million from West Bengal and Bihar. Within less than a decade this culminated into what may be termed as the 'demographic divide' coupled with demographic immaturity, immobility and a lack of extraterritorial population expansion.

During the war of liberation in 1971, an estimated ten million refugees fled from Bangladesh to neighbouring India to escape from the atrocities of the Pakistan Army and their local collaborators. Within a month after the crackdown of the Pakistan Army on 25 March 1971, nearly a million refugees entered India. By the end of May, the average daily influx into India was over 100,000 and had reached a total of almost four million. By the end of 1971, figures provided by the Indian government to the United Nations indicated that this total had reached 10 million. India quickly announced that all refugees who had entered the country after 25 March 1971 would need to return to Bangladesh by the end of February 1972. This time frame seemed too optimistic, and providing transportation for the refugees raised huge operational difficulties. Nevertheless, within days of the conclusion of hostilities, refugees began returning home on their own. Indeed, some even returned while the fighting was still going.

To help refugees on their way back, they were given food for the journey, medical assistance, and two weeks' basic rations. Remarkably, by the end of February 1972, over nine million refugees had returned back to Bangladesh. The desire to return home had outweighed practical problems. On 25 March, the Indian government estimated that only 60,000 refugees remained in the country. By the end of May 1972, contributions for the repatriation operation, pledged to UNHCR as a result of an appeal launched that January, amounted to $14.2 million, of which $6.3 million was transferred to the Bangladesh government to finance relief and rehabilitation projects for returnees.

The independence of Bangladesh facilitated conditions for a mass return of refugees. Although there were no major disputes as a result of their return, refugees encountered problems in managing means of supporting themselves. Once in Bangladesh, the refugees could pass through any of the 271 camps that were set up as transit points. The vast majority of refugees returned directly to their communities, however, without calling at registration offices in Indian camps or at the Bangladeshi transit camps.

On 28 August 1973, the governments of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan signed the New Delhi Agreement, which included provisions for simultaneous repatriation of three primary groups. These comprised Pakistani prisoners of war and civilian internees in India, all Bengalis in Pakistan, and 'a substantial number of 'non-Bengalis' residing in Bangladesh who had 'opted for repatriation to Pakistan'. The 'non-Bengalis' were commonly referred to as biharis, since a majority of them were Indian Muslims who originally came from the state of Bihar in India and who had come to East Pakistan at the time of Partition in 1947.

By the end of October 1973, a huge air repatriation operation was under way with aircrafts loaned by East Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. During November, there were six airplanes on mission duty, carrying an average of 1,200 people a day. By late January 1974, some 90,000 people had been transported from Pakistan to Bangladesh, and over 44,000 from Bangladesh to Pakistan. By mid February 1974, over 200,000 people had been repatriated under the terms of the New Delhi Agreement. The implementation of the agreement played a role in Pakistan's decision on 22 February 1974 to recognise Bangladesh. On 1 July 1974, in agreement with the governments concerned, UNHCR phased out the repatriation, which began in the previous September. By this time, some 9,000 people had been transported by sea between Bangladesh and Pakistan and some 270,000 airlifted across the subcontinent. Those airlifted included some 166,000 Bengalis returning from Pakistan to Bangladesh and some 104,000 non-Bengalis going back from Bangladesh to Pakistan. This was the largest emergency airlift of civilians ever organised.

One of the unresolved issues at this time was the status and citizenship of Biharis who moved to East Pakistan at the time of partition in 1947. The problem still remains unresolved. Most of them spoke Urdu, which bound them to West Pakistan, but they fared relatively well in East Pakistan. During 1971, many Biharis joined the Pakistani militia or collaborated with the Pakistan Army. As a result, after the surrender of the Pakistan Army in mid-December 1971, the entire Bihari community faced the wrath of Bengali nationalism.

Although Biharis were among those accepted by Pakistan under the August 1973 repatriation accord, Pakistan was slow in giving clearances. At a meeting of the foreign ministers of the three countries in New Delhi in April 1974, a new tripartite agreement on a second phase of repatriation was reached. More than 170,000 Biharis moved to Pakistan under the terms of these agreements. But Pakistan interpreted the categories of 'non-Bengalis' set out in the agreement restrictively and did not take back all Biharis. In addition to this earlier movement, nearly 9,900 Biharis repatriated to Pakistan between 1977 and 1979 and further, 4,800 more of them in 1982. In 1993, Pakistan accepted 53 more Bihari families but then the process stopped.

In 1999, over 200,000 Biharis were still living in 66 camps of Bangladesh with poor facilities. By this time, many of them have been naturalised in the country but because their citizenship is still an unresolved issue, they continue to face innumerable problems.

Towards the end of the 1970s, UNHCR became involved in a complex and controversial repatriation operation on the eastern border of Bangladesh. The operation involved rohingyas, a Muslim minority from the Arakan State of largely Buddhist Myanmar, who took refuge in Bangladesh. Almost immediately after Myanmar (Burma) gained independence in 1948, tension increased between Rohingyas and the local rakhain population in Arakan. The Burmese government claimed that the Rohingyas were relatively recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent.

The Burmese constitution therefore, did not include them among the indigenous groups qualifying for citizenship. This marginalised the Rohingyas and made it extremely difficult for them to gain access to basic social, educational and health services. In March 1978, due to widespread arrests and expulsions by the Burmese government, a large number of Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh. Estimates as to the actual numbers varied. The Bangladesh government claimed that the figure was more than 250,000, while the Burmese authorities put it at less than 150,000. The arrival of so many refugees put considerable pressure on densely populated Bangladesh and strained relations between the two countries. These pressures and the concern of the world's Muslim countries over the Rohingya refugees led to appeal to the United Nations for assistance. Many of these refugees lived in pitiful conditions, and the government of Bangladesh insisted that the country could not continue to provide them the shelter for an indefinite period. As a result, a large UN relief programme coordinated by UNHCR was launched in May 1978. In all, 13 refugee camps were established. As the crisis eased, Myanmar and Bangladesh, neither of the two being a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, sought a permanent solution to the refugee problem.

A bilateral agreement between the two countries, to which UNHCR was not a party, was concluded in July 1978 to provide for the repatriation of Rohingyas. The refugees, however, did not want to return and they were reportedly involved in serious clashes with Bangladesh officials, resulting in hundreds of deaths. Deteriorating conditions of the camps, the arrest of a number of Rohingya leaders, and reduction in food rations later induced most refugees to go back. By the end of 1979, more than 180,000 had returned to Myanmar.

During 1991-1992, Bangladesh received a fresh influx of approximately 250,000 refugees from Myanmar. The exodus was triggered this time by a complex combination of political, social and economic factors and serious violation of human rights. The government of Bangladesh established 20 shelter camps for them. Thousands of Rohingyas again fled to Bangladesh in 1996 and 1997. The border forces of Bangladesh sent as many of them to Myanmar as they could, but the process was stopped after intervention by UNHCR, which took on itself the responsibility of handling the refugees and their repatriation. Around 200,000 of them were returned by December 1999 but according to some estimates, about 22,000 still remained in Bangladesh. But even though many of the causes, which prompted mass departures in earlier years may have diminished, the plight of the Rohingyas in Myanmar remains a matter of international concern. [AKM Mazharul Islam]