Bangladesh News

The Election Commission (EC) has moved to register the 1.6 lakh Urdu-speaking stranded Pakistanis living in different camps in Bangladesh in the fresh electoral roll, allowing them to cast votes in the upcoming national and local polls.

But registering Bangladeshi citizens living abroad before the next parliamentary election still remains uncertain as the commission’s move to amend the electoral roll ordinance for this purpose remains stalled, sources in the EC Secretariat said.

The EC initiated the move to register the Urdu-speaking people as voters following a High Court verdict that granted Bangladeshi citizenship to the Biharis living in different camps for 37 years and asked the commission to register them in the electoral roll.

According to the commission’s decision, the EC Secretariat in a circular on Monday asked district election officers, who are working as registration officers for voter listing, to initiate necessary arrangements for the task, sources said.

Copies of the circular were also sent to the military secretary to Dhaka Cantonment and the director of the voter list preparation project.

The circular said the list of camps where Urdu-speaking people live would be collected from the home ministry and sent to the registration officers soon.

Sources said the EC Secretariat has recently asked the home ministry to send the list of these camps to it.

According to information available, Urdu-speaking stranded Pakistanis have been living at 116 camps in different parts of the country since 1972 with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

About 3 lakh Urdu-speaking people are living in Bangladesh at present and of them 1.6 lakh live in the camps set up by the ICRC. Many of them were born after 1971 or were minor at that time.

In its verdict delivered on May 18, the High Court said as they have been residing in Bangladesh since before and after the country’s independence, they are citizens of this country by birth and are entitled to be registered in the electoral roll.

Referring to the chief election commissioner’s letter to the chief adviser dated June 1, 2007, the verdict said the EC did not face any problem registering the Urdu-speaking people living all over the country outside the ICRC camps. They have been listed in the electoral roll following the criteria set for the purpose. But the EC faced difficulties in registering those living inside the ICRC camps due to complications regarding their Bangladeshi citizenship.

REGISTERING EXPATRIATES
Election commissioners Muhammed Sohul Hussain and Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain visited the United Kingdom last November at a cost of around Tk 14 lakh to study the feasibility of the plan to register expatriate Bangladeshis in the electoral roll.

They met the Bangladeshi citizens living in London and pledged to register them in the electoral roll so they can cast their votes in the ninth parliamentary election slated for the third week of December.

However, the long standing demand of expatriate Bangladeshis might not be realised before the upcoming parliamentary polls since the EC has apparently shifted from its earlier stance to do the task, sources concerned said.

A few months ago, the EC drafted proposals to bring amendment to the electoral roll ordinance clearing the way for registering expatriates in the voter list. But the move did not see any progress, the sources added.

A senior official engaged in voter listing yesterday said they knew nothing about listing the Bangladeshi citizens living abroad in the electoral roll.