Gender and Diaspora: The Bihari Community in Bangladesh

Abstract

The Urdu-speaking Biharis are descendants of Muslim refugees who migrated from India to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) after the partition of 1947, primarily fearing communal riots. During the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, the Biharis supported and acted in favour of the West Pakistan. After the independence of Bangladesh, they moved into refugee camps and continue to live in an extremely dilapidated situation without a clear identity and political status. The Biharis in Bangladesh belong to a typical diasporic community since they consider Pakistan as their homeland but live in Bangladesh. The repatriation issue of the Biharis remained as one of unresolved problems between Pakistan and Bangladesh for long which has added fuel to their diasporic feelings. Women are the worse suffers in the case of diasporic situation. In this paper, through content analysis, a critical examination was made on the relationship between gender and diasporic identities of the Bihari community living in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that diaspora has a different modality for women of this community.