State of Statelessness in Bangladesh and suffered decades of exclusion following independence, due in part to their perceived support of Pakistan in 1971 during the junta’s brutal military campaign against the Bengali population. In the aftermath of Bangladeshi independence, they were displaced en masse into camps across Bangladesh. Widely referred to as ‘stranded Pakistanis’, an estimated 163,000 had resettled in Pakistan by 1981.4 However, Pakistan eventually refused to welcome any further arrivals, leaving a population of approximately 300,000 Urdu-speakers stateless in 116 camps across Bangladesh until a Supreme Court order in 2008 granted citizenship to the Urdu-speaking Biharis who were born after the independence of Bangladesh. However, the legacy of discrimination continues to this day, reflected in their secondary social, economic and political status within the country.5 The Struggle for Citizenship Since 1990, the post-independence generation of Urdu-speakers have advocated with the government and civil society organisations for their recognition as citizens of Bangladesh. In 2001, before the national election, they attempted to submit a memorandum to the Bangladesh Election Commission to include them in the voters’ list but this was rejected. A writ petition was subsequently filed by 10 young Urdu-speakers seeking citizenship,6 and in May 2003 the Supreme Court delivered a judgment in their favour. Though this applied only to the applicants and not the wider community, the ruling represented a major milestone in their struggle for recognition. This was followed by another breakthrough in 2008 when the Supreme Court again ruled in favour of a writ petition launched by members of the community. The judgment found that members of the Urdu-speaking community were nationals of Bangladesh, in accordance with its laws, and directed the Election Commission to register them as voters as well as provide the National Identity Card without any further delay.7 4 ‘Biharis’, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, Minority Rights Group International, https://minorityrights.org/minorities/biharis. 5 Ibid. 6 Abid Khan and others v. Government of Bangladesh and others, Writ Petition No. 3831 of 2001, Bangladesh: Supreme Court, 5 March 2003. 7 Md. Sadaqat Khan (Fakku) and Others v. Chief Election Commissioner, 17