No specific information as to whether there have been any amendments to the citizenship law with regard to the Biharis since the Awami League assumed power in 1996 could be found among the sources consulted. However, the following information on the situation of the Biharis, and Bangladeshi and Pakistani citizenships was provided by different sources.

The UNHCR stated in a 1997 report that:

In Bangladesh...some 240,000 Biharis (primarily non-Bengali Moslems who fled from India during the partition on 1947 and who supported West Pakistan during the 1971 secessionist struggle) continue to live in camps, waiting for the day when they can take up residence and citizenship in Pakistan.

In 1997, representatives of U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR) visited the camps where Biharis live (1998). The representatives were told by members of the Ezaz group that if they "were granted Bangladeshi citizenship, they could leave the camps and lead normal lives." For them, as expressed to the USCR, Bangladeshi citizenship would be the solution to their situation (ibid.).

In 1999, Minorities at Risk Project published an update to a chronology of events in Bangladesh related to the Biharis. There is no mention of any amendments to the citizenship law with regard to the Biharis up to March 1999. The chronology states in conclusion that:

Bangladesh has generally been indifferent to the plight of the Biharis; however, in recent years it has actively pressed Pakistan to repatriate the stranded Pakistanis. A minority of Biharis recently applied for Bangladeshi citizenship, but most are still lobbying to return to Pakistan.

Reports in 2000 indicate that a younger generation of Biharis wants to stay in Bangladesh and would like to be granted Bangladeshi citizenship (News From Bangladesh 30 Apr. 2000; IPS 14 Mar. 2000). A News From Bangladesh report quotes Hassan Ariff, a Bangladeshi lawyer, as stating that "citizenship was a complex issue, but if the government decided in favour of conferring citizenship on certain categories of people there was no legal bar" (30 Apr. 2000). IPS had stated earlier in March 2000 that the Bangladeshi government had not responded to the appeal of the some Biharis to become Bangladeshi citizen (14 Mar. 2000).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please see below the list of additional sources consultated in researching this Response.

Inter Press Service (IPS). 14 March 2000. Tabibul Islam. "Bangladesh: Stranded Pakistanis give up Dreams of Leaving." (NEXIS)

Minorities at Risk Project. 7 February 1999. Deepa Khosla. "Biharis in Bangladesh." http://www.bsos.umd.edu/cidcm/mar/bangbiha.htm [Accessed 16 Aug. 2000]

News From Bangladesh [Dhaka]. 30 April 2000. Haroon Habib. "Biharis in Bangladesh Seek Citizenship." http://www.bangladesh-web.com/news/may/03/rv4n205.htm [Accessed 16 Aug. 2000]

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 1997. The State of the World's Refugees: A Humanitarian Agenda. "6 Statelessness and Citizenship." http://www.unchr.ch/refworld/pub/state/97/ch6.htm [Accessed 16 Aug. 2000]

U.S. Committee for Refugees (USCR). 1998. World Refugee Survey. Hiram A. Ruis. "Fifty Years in Exile: The Biharis Remain in India." http://www.refugees.org/world/articles/india_wrs98.htm [Accessed 16 Aug. 2000]

One oral source did not provide information on the above subject.