Bangladesh may grant citizenship to stranded Pakistanis

DHAKA, Sep 6 (Reuters) Nearly half of about 300,000 Urdu-speaking ''Bihari'' Muslims awaiting repatriation to Pakistan for over 36 years may be granted Bangladeshi citizenship ahead of elections next year, a senior government official said today.

The Urdu-speaking Muslims, who migrated to former East Pakistan following the partition of the British-ruled subcontinent in 1947, sided with the Pakistan army during Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence.

''We are considering to give citizenships to about 140,000 Biharis who were either born in Bangladesh or have expressed loyalty to us,'' said Mohammad Mohsin, a Home Ministry official.

He said the rest of the Biharis, also known as ''stranded Pakistanis'', would continue to wait for an agreement on their fate.

Most have been living for decades in crammed, squalid refugee camps in Dhaka and other towns run by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the Bangladeshi government.

But the new generation Biharis, who say they do not belong to Pakistan nor want to go there, have for years urged the Dhaka government to accept them as Bangladeshis -- despite objections from their parents and grandparents.

If the process is completed soon, the Urdu-speaking Bangladeshis will be eligible to vote in the country's next elections, officials said.

They will receive voter ID cards with photos as well as national identity cards, Mohsin said.

Bangladesh's army-backed interim government, headed by former central bank chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, has pledged to hold free and fair parliamentary polls before the end of 2008.

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