Page 126 - English Reader - 7

Hussain brought the story of the Biharis to the special event, Voices:
‘Everyone affected by racism has a story that should be heard’, at the

Durban Review Conference in Geneva. He told his audience that since
the partition of Pakistan in 1971, more than three hundred thousand

Bihari people have been living in makeshift camps all over Bangladesh.

Hussain lives in the Geneva camp, set up by the International Committee

of the Red Cross, in 1971 and named after the organisation’s Swiss
headquarters. One of the largest in Bangladesh, the Geneva camp is

home to around 25 thousand people who live in houses measuring on
average 13 square metres which accommodate 5 to 8 people. For the

entire camp there are 250 public toilets.

“As Biharis,” Hussain says, “we have no access to any means of survival in

society - socially, culturally and economically.”

His own story is typical. On completion of primary school, he and other

students tried to enroll at the local high school but were refused. Their
only option was a private school which most could not afford.

At the private school, the Bihari students were treated as a race apart. “I
remember my first day of school. All the Bengali students were looking

at us as if we were strangers and they were whispering to each other that

we are Bihari and that we live in dirty camps…We were marginalised in
the classroom and we had to sit in a separate row.”

Khalid described the extreme difficulty Biharis experience trying to
access employment and escape poverty. “Not only are we denied all
government positions but also due to our addresses in the camps and our

undefined legal status, wider discrimination in the job market remains

a prime concern.”

126 Dolphin English Reader Book 7