COMMENTARY INVISIBLE PEOPLE, VISIBLE BARRIERS: HEALTHCARE ACCESS FOR AND AMONG ETHNIC BENGALIS IN PAKISTAN MUHAMMAD HAMID ZAMAN,* TAHERA HASAN AND JANKI BHATT*** TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction........................................................................................................... 286 Historical Context ................................................................................................. 287 A History of Ethnic Bengalis in Pakistan ..................................................... 287 B Citizenship Laws of Pakistan ................................................................... 288 C NADRA .................................................................................................... 289 Local Context ........................................................................................................ 290 A Machar Colony ......................................................................................... 290 B Healthcare ................................................................................................. 290 Discussion ............................................................................................................. 291 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 292 INTRODUCTION Bengali stateless persons number in the millions in Pakistan.1 They are an ethnic group that speaks Bengali who resided in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and moved to West Pakistan (now Pakistan), during and in the aftermath of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War that led to the creation of Bangladesh. An invisible population in Pakistan, these stateless persons are unable to access education, healthcare and other fundamental human necessities. Access to healthcare is an internationally recognised human right2 but the Government of Pakistan has hindered stateless people’s access to health. In contrast to the support provided by the Government of Pakistan, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (‘UNHCR’) to Afghan refugees in the context of * Muhammad Hamid Zaman is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Global Health at Boston University. He is the director of the Center on Forced Displacement at Boston University. His research focuses on, among other areas, improving access to healthcare among forcibly displaced and stateless communities.  Tahera Hasan is an activist and Founder-Director of Imkaan Welfare Organisation. The main focus of her work is advocacy for, awareness of and the acquisition of rights and services for stateless communities in Pakistan. *** Janki Bhatt is a fourth-year student at Boston University pursuing an undergraduate degree in English and Political Science. She is assisting Professor Muhammad Zaman with his research on access to healthcare in forcibly displaced and stateless communities. 1 Alizeh Kohari, ‘Marooned: Karachi’s Stateless Fishermen’, Coda Story (online, 3 November 2021) <https://www.codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/bengali-pakistan-nadra-biometrics>, archived at <perma.cc/WP8Y-VYAV>. 2 Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, ‘Health Is a Fundamental Human Right’, World Health Organization (Newsroom Commentary, 10 December 2017) <https://www.who.int/newsroom/commentaries/detail/health-is-a-fundamental-human-right>, archived at <perma.cc/EJ2X-L7HM>.