Rights groups say there are around three million Bengalis in Pakistan (a small, but significant proportion of Pakistan’s estimated 172 million population) most of whom live in Karachi, and they are the poorest segment of Pakistani society. Some are hindered by their status as aliens in the country, but many others who hold official documentation still face marginalization when it comes to public services.

‘The same NIC and CNIC [computerized national identity cards] are used when the elections are held and no one questions if a Bengali speaking person is a Pakistani or not then. However, when it comes to treating the Bengalis as Pakistani citizens, there are always hurdles’, says Muhammad Kamran, a community worker in Karachi.

‘After 1971, when Bangladesh was created, a lot of Bengalis left [Pakistan] for the new country [Bangladesh] but came back again in the 80s due to better opportunities, and many of them managed to get the Pakistani NICs’, according to Kamran.

Jamal (not his real name), who works at the Lyari General Hospital in Karachi, confirmed there was no official policy of discrimination against Bengalis but that it happened frequently nonetheless.

‘We have a lot of Bengalis coming here for treatment. However, they are often sidelined by the doctors and even insulted by the locals. It’s just something that has been ingrained into our minds that these people are traitors and our enemies. I have seen a Bengali man die as the doctor was busy attending a personal phone call. All the doctor had to say was this is God’s will. Being poor and being a Bengali doesn’t do anyone any favours’, Jamal remarked.

Officials have, however, denied any discrimination against the Bengalis, IRIN adds.