‘We want a normal life’

Three weeks after a clash with police, fear and anxiety still grips the residents of Mohammadpur’s Geneva Camp; leaders of the community allege that police harassment has made their lives miserable.

Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee (SPGRC) yesterday urged the government to ensure a normal life for Geneva camp residents and wanted the prime minister’s intervention to solve their problems.

They made the demands at a press conference at Jatiya Press Club.

They alleged that police often come to the camp with video footage of their October 5 demonstration, and pick up whoever is seen in the footage.

“The footage shows our demonstration. We took part in the demonstration for uninterrupted power supply. That doesn’t mean we were involved in violence,” said M Shawkat Ali, general secretary of the camp unit of SPGRC.

“I am the headmaster of a high school. Does it sound plausible that I’d throw brickbats at police? I was also made accused in a case,” Shawkat added.

Men -- without any involvement in the violence -- of the camp are on the run, they said, adding that police did not even allow them to open shops after the incident.

On October 5, Geneva Camp residents blocked nearby Ghaznabi Road, protesting frequent load shedding.

Some outsiders took the opportunity -- vandalising shops and houses in the camp and police vehicles as well as looting valuables, they claimed.

Over 50 people, including 15 policemen, were injured as Geneva Camp residents and law enforcers clashed in Mohammadpur during the demonstration.

Police filed a case against 51 named and many unnamed  persons with Mohammadpur Police Station after the incident.

Camp residents requested to remove the names of central leaders of SPGRC and general dwellers from the FIR to stop harassment and demanded arrest of the culprits who were involved with vandalism.

Meanwhile, refuting allegations, police said they are only arresting people with specific charges.

Urdu-speaking people had migrated to the then East Pakistan from the Indian state of Bihar during the 1947 Partition. They have been living in the camp since the end of the 1971 Liberation War.

The camp, also known as “Bihari Camp”, is a densely-populated settlement of more than 40,000 people, where each family with eight to 10 members on average live in one room, and around 90 people share a latrine.

In a written statement, Harunur Rashid, one of the leaders of SPGRC, said that they have been enduring load shedding for around five to eight hours every day in the camp. Children suffered badly with their studies being hampered, as examinations are knocking at the door, he said.

Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) said the camp residents did not pay electricity bills worth Tk 33 crore, which were earlier provided by the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.

When asked about the electricity bill, SPGRC’s general secretary Shawkhat Ali said they have national identity cards of Bangladesh but still live in squalor in the camp.

They said they would pay electricity and all other bills once they are rehabilitated. Citing media reports, they said the government has shown willingness to provide flats for Urdu-speaking people -- on monthly rent or installment basis. They said the amount is not reasonable considering their income. Instead of flats, they demanded land.

There are over five lakh Urdu-speaking people living in 70 camps across 13 districts.