been completely left out of efforts to facilitate citizenship for stateless groups. Children
of Afghan refugees in Pakistan are at risk of statelessness, as the High Court of Pakistan
has explicitly stated that they are excluded from the operation of the jus soli provisions
of the Pakistan citizenship law.25 While there has been some analysis of Pakistan’s
citizenship laws and the status of Afghan refugees, there is very limited research or
mapping focusing on their statelessness.26 Bengali speaking and Bihari populations,
many of whom have lived in Pakistan prior to independence, while not legally barred,
have also been excluded from the operation of jus soli provisions as well as facing
administrative barriers to accessing national identity documents.27 Despite several
promises and certain attempts to facilitate the re-verification of blocked ID cards paving
the way to provide Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC) to Bengalis and Biharis,
nothing substantial has materialized.28
Ethnic Bengalis
14. Even though the nationality laws of Pakistan provide that any person with documents
that prove domicile in Pakistan before 1978 can acquire citizenship, the law has not been
implemented, including because of corruption and discrimination.29 It is estimated that
70 to 80% of the 3 million Bengali speakers in Pakistan do not have identification
documents and thousands have had to register as ‘aliens’ depriving them of access to
rights and services protected for citizens.30 There are claims that they are the most
discriminated ethnic group in the country.31
15. A large Bengali population resides in the Machar colony, one of Karachi’s biggest slums,
housing an estimated 700,000 people.32 It is estimated by Imkaan Welfare Organization
that 65% of them are Bengalis, more than half of who have no citizenship documents. 33
Bengalis were given manual ID cards in 1973 and onwards but after the introduction of
25
See Ghulam Sanai v Assistant Director National Registration Office [1999] PLD 18 (Peshawar National High
Court); Faryal Nazir, ‘Report on Citizenship Law: Pakistan’, EUDO Citizenship Observatory, December 2016, at 5–
6.
26 See Syed Nadeem Farhat, ‘Citizenship Laws of Pakistan: A Critical Review’ (2019) 16(2) Policy Perspectives 59;
United States Department of State, ‘Pakistan 2020 Human Rights Report’ (Report, 2021); Ifikhar A Khan, ‘Afghan
Refugees’ Children Can’t Get CNICs: Nisar’, DAWN (Online, 11 August 2016)
<https://www.dawn.com/news/1276821> accessed July 13, 2022; Marjoleine Zieck, ‘The Legal Status of Afghan
Refugees in Pakistan, a Story of Eight Agreements and Two Suppressed Premises’ (2008) 20(2) International
Journal of Refugee Law 253.
27 See Tahera Hasan, ‘Minor Aliens’, DAWN, (Online, 24 August 2021),
<https://www.dawn.com/news/1642330?mc_cid=d29b077bfe&mc_eid=43f38914b3> accessed July 13, 2022;
Hajira Maryam, ‘Stateless and Helpless: The Plight of Ethnic Bengalis in Pakistan’, Al Jazeera, (Online, 29
September 2021),
<https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/9/29/stateless-ethnic-bengalispakistan?mc_cid=d29b077bfe&mc_eid=43f38914b>accessed July 13, 2022.
28 Zia Ur Rehman, ‘Pakistan Moves towards Legalising Bengalis and Biharis, Not Rohingyas’, Geo News, (Online,
18 October 2017) https://www.geo.tv/latest/162968-pakistan-to-grant-citizenship-to-bengalis-and-biharis-notrohingyas, accessed July 1, 2022.
29 Khaula Jamil, “Women behind the Lens: ‘She Dreams of Competing Outside Pakistan but It’s Hopeless,’” The
Guardian, sec. Global development, (Online, 11 March 2022),
<https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/mar/11/women-behind-the-lens-khaula-jamilbangladeshi-pakistan-gymnastics> accessed July 13, 2022.
30 Ibid.
31 Hajira Maryam, ‘Stateless and Helpless: The Plight of Ethnic Bengalis in Pakistan,’ Al Jazeera, (Online, 29
September 2021),
<https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/9/29/stateless-ethnic-bengalis-pakistan>, accessed July 13, 2022.
32 Ibid.
33 Ibid.
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