Invisible People, Visible Barriers COVID-19 (which has also been inadequate),3 the state has left the Bengali stateless on their own, causing frustration, anxiety and poor health outcomes.4 HISTORICAL CONTEXT A History of Ethnic Bengalis in Pakistan Twenty-four years after the India–Pakistan partition in 1947, a civil war between East and West Pakistan resulted in the creation of the nation of Bangladesh in 1971. Following the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan, many Bengali people chose to stay in Bangladesh, while some chose to move to Pakistan, mostly for economic reasons.5 Other Bengali people were already living in (West) Pakistan. In the first 10 years after the creation of Bangladesh, people moved between Pakistan and Bangladesh as the Pakistani economy grew while Bangladesh was struggling.6 The citizenship laws of Pakistan only provide citizenship to those who were living in Pakistan on or before 16 December 1971.7 Due to this temporal limitation, there are millions of Bengali persons living in Pakistan today who are not able to become citizens of Pakistan.8 Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, hosts the majority of the stateless Bengali population.9 They largely inhabit slums on reclaimed land near the Arabian Sea. Machar Colony is one such low-income informal settlement and is one of the most prominent communities inhabited by stateless Bengalis. In addition, there are many Bengali speakers (whose ancestors came from East Pakistan) who, despite being born in Pakistan after 1971, have not been granted Pakistani citizenship, which appears contrary to provisions in the citizenship laws of Pakistan.10 Although they have documents proving their eligibility for citizenship and computerised national identity cards (‘CNIC’), they 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Tanya Lone et al, Towards Shock-Responsive Social Protection: Lessons from the COVID-19 Response in Pakistan (Research Report, Oxford Policy Management and UK Aid, March 2021) 35–45. Imkaan Welfare Organisation, Nationality For All and Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, ‘Pakistan’, Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 42nd Session of the Universal Periodic Review, July 2022, 14–15 [44]–[49] <https://files.institutesi.org/UPR42_Pakistan.pdf>, archived at <perma.cc/2MFR-N4GP> (‘UPR Submission’); Anuj Kapilashrami et al, ‘Neglect of Low-income Migrants in COVID19 Response’, BMJ Opinion (Blog Post, 29 May 2020) <https://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2020/05/29/neglect-of-low-income-migrants-in-covid-19-response>, archived at <perma.cc/EN77-ULXV>. Haris Gazdar, ‘Karachi, Pakistan: Between Regulation and Regularisation’ in Marcello Balbo (ed), International Migrants and the City: Bangkok, Berlin, Dakar, Karachi, Johannesburg, Naples, São Paulo, Tijuana, Vancouver, Vladivostok (UN-Habitat 2005) 151, 156. ibid. See also Bilal Karim Mughal and Saher Baloch, ‘The Woes of Bengalis, Burmese and Iranians of Karachi’, Herald (online, 14 September 2017) <https://herald.dawn.com/ news/1153771/the-woes-of-bengalis-burmese-and-iranians-of-karachi>, archived at <perma.cc/3NVP-FA63>. Pakistan Citizenship Act No II of 1951, s 16A (Pakistan) (‘Citizenship Act’). Haniya Javed, ‘Pakistan’s Undocumented Communities Struggle to Access COVID-19 Vaccines’, The Blueprint (online, 22 July 2021) <https://theblueprint.news/news/ 2021/07/pakistan-s-undocumented-communities-struggle-to-access-covid-19-vaccines>, archived at <perma.cc/9LP7-LMAJ>. Kifayat Ali Shah, ‘Stateless and Helpless’, The Express Tribune (online, 16 May 2021) <https://tribune.com.pk/story/2300034/stateless-and-helpless>, archived at <perma.cc/4F5JVYDU>. Mughal and Baloch (n 6). 287