-2The petitioners who are eleven in number obtained the above Rule as residents of
Football Ground Camp at Mirpur excepting petitioner No, 3, resident of Non-local
Relief Camp at Mirpur.
Their common case, in short, is that before and after creation of Pakistan on 14
August 1947, the ancestors of the petitioners as well as other Urdu-speaking
Muslims left their home in India and immigrated to the then East Pakistan, settled
and started business in different districts. They were recognized as citizens of
erstwhile Pakistan and many of them got Government Service in the then East
Pakistan.
In course of time, many of them who came from the states Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar and Bengal and so on died long before liberation of Bangladesh leaving
behind their children in the territory now comprised Bangladesh. Several generations
passed before liberation of Bangladesh. After liberation of Bangladesh in 1971, said
Urdu-speaking people were housed in 116 camps in different parts of Bangladesh in
1972 with the help of International Committee of Red – Cross,
As they are residing in Bangladesh since before and after liberation of
Bangladesh, they are citizens of this country by birth and otherwise and they are
therefore entitled to be enrolled in the electoral rolls and registered as voters. On the
prayer dated 05-02-76 of Mrs. Rajibun Nessa, mother of petitioner No. 2 and 6 and
grandmother of petitioner 7 and 8 for citizenship to the Secretary, Ministry of Home
Affairs, a Section officer of said Ministry by his memo 904/IMM/111 dated 30-09-76
informed them that they were citizens of Bangladesh under Article 2 (11) of the
Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary Provision) Order , 1972 (President’s Order No.
149 of 1972) hereinafter referred to as PO No. 149 of 1972 and so they were not
required to acquire the Bangladesh citizenship afresh. Annexure-A
Lastly on 26-06-07, a Senior Assistant Secretary of the Election
Commission informed the Executive Director of Al-Falah, non-governmental
organization of Bangladesh in connection with his letter dated 11-06-07 that a letter
dated 14-06-07 under the signature of the Chief Election Commissioner was sent to
the Chief Adviser for urgent decision on the question of said Urdu-speaking people.
A copy of said letter of the Chief Election Commissioner was also annexed hereto as
Annexure-B. Thereafter, various news clippings on the conditions of the Urduspeaking people that appeared on different occasions in the National media were
annexed to the writ petition.
It is also stated that registration of voters was completed in the Districts of
Rajshahi Rangpur, Khulna and Mymensingh but none of the Urdu-speaking people
living in the camps of those Districts was enrolled in the Electoral Rolls of 2007.A
coordinating meeting was held at Mirpur Uddyan School on 10-11-07 at the invitation
of the Commissioner of Ward No. 3 of Dhaka City Corporation in presence of High
Officers of Bangladesh Army, District and Thana Election Officers, Local Assistant
Registration Officers, Supervisors , Data/ Information Collectors , Identifier
Committee and others for commencement of registration. In the meeting, District