Geneva camp in Dhaka’s Muhammadpur

Geneva Camp in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur is a colony of the stranded Pakistanis who migrated to the then East Pakistan from the Indian state of Bihar during the partition of 1947.

The Urdu-speaking Muslims have been living there since the end of the 1971 War of Liberation. The camp, one of the 70 camps all over Bangladesh, is a densely-populated settlement of more than one lakh Biharis where each family with eight to 10 members on average lives in one room, and around 90 people share a latrine.

The place was found to be a hotspot for illegal drug trade including yaba. The camp came to the lime light as a stronghold of drug dealers after the elite force started nationwide anti-drugs crackdown from May 4. Following the nationwide anti-narcotics crackdown, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) today launched a drive at the camp and detained over 100 people suspecting their involvement in drug dealing.