2022 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 4(2) research in favour of the Bengalis due to the risk of social and political backlash.48 There are very few exceptions to this, but one occurred in 2017, when an 18member special committee that was formed to discuss issues faced by the Bengali community unanimously decided to ‘suggest a constitutional amendment to give legal status to the Bengalis in Pakistan’.49 No such amendment has been suggested or passed. Local NGOs have tried to step in to substitute for the lack of governmental aid to Bengali Pakistani communities, providing healthcare or legal support on a very limited basis.50 CONCLUSION While UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness recognises and endorses the good practices of governments ending statelessness, certain stateless communities are in its blind spot. The Bengalis in Pakistan are one such example. Pakistan has spent decades providing refuge to the people of Afghanistan and, for these efforts, it deserves due praise. However, its mistreatment of Afghan refugees, stateless Bengalis and other minorities must be addressed. The revocation and non-issuance of CNICs by NADRA and the general consensus that Bengalis are aliens in Pakistani society are lesser-known issues. The Bengali stateless population deserve acceptance into Pakistani society, so they can finally lead healthy, respectable and stable lives in their homeland. 48 49 50 Elaine Alam, ‘Closing Civic Space in Pakistan’ in South Asia State of Minorities Report 2020: Minorities and Shrinking Civic Space (Report, The South Asia Collective, 2020) 165, 185–91. Zia Ur Rehman, ‘Pakistan Moves towards Legalising Bengalis and Biharis, Not Rohingyas’, Geo News (online, 18 October 2017) <www.geo.tv/latest/162968-pakistan-to-grantcitizenship-to-bengalis-and-biharis-not-rohingyas>, archived at <perma.cc/3KPG-MLKH>. Abira Ashfaq, Understanding Urban Resilience: Migration, Displacement and Violence in Karachi (Report, International Committee of the Red Cross, 2019) 14–15. 292