Dual citizenship of Britons of
Bangladeshi origin
The Bangladesh government has extended certain privileges to its nationals who have been naturalised as British citizens. This is the third official notification on Bangladesh citizenship by the government including (a) the Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary Provisions) Order of 1972 signed on the 15th of December, 1972 by President Abu Sayeed Chowdhury and (b) the Bangladesh Citizenship (Temporary Provisions (Amendment)) Ordinance 1978 signed by President Ziaur Rahman. Combining these three notices and studying the application form for Dual Nationality Certificate, one realises that the effective privilege granted to Bangladeshi-Britons is to automatically retain Bangladesh citizenship. Thus, unlike other Bangladeshis who have been naturalised as citizens of a country other than the United Kingdom, they no longer have to go through the long-winded process of the Dual Nationality Application that requires a declaration of assets and activities for the past five years.
Being an expatriate Bangladeshi with little or no knowledge of the legal technicalities involved in dual citizenship, all this is somewhat perplexing for me. Political views as to the rights and wrongs of the principles of dual or multiple nationalities aside, I would like to question the practical effects of the latest notification. Most Bangladeshis who have been naturalised as citizens (as well as their spouses of foreign origin) of another country are entitled to a ‘No Visa Required (NVR) for Travel to Bangladesh’ stamp on their passport which is valid till the expiry of that passport and renewable when a new passport is obtained. This process does not require the lengthy process of obtaining the ‘Dual Nationality Certificate’. Having the NVR simply means people can travel in and out of Bangladesh without having to get a visitor’s visa. What it does not specify is how long the NVR holder can reside in Bangladesh or what their rights are (employment, ownership of property, voter registration) even though one has to prove that they effectively have the right of abode in Bangladesh (through birth, heritage or marriage) by producing the relevant documents before it is granted to them.
The news report also states that Bangladeshi-Britons will be able to use their Bangladeshi passports. What does that really mean? Can a Bangladeshi-Briton enter Bangladesh on their Bangladesh passport and leave Bangladesh on that same passport without a visa for a country for which they do not require a visa if they enter on their British passport? In other words, will the immigration police at a Bangladeshi land border post or international airport allow a person to travel to a country without a visa if they can produce their British passport? Logically speaking, this should be automatic since carrying both a Bangladeshi and a British passport has been effectively granted by the government. Perhaps your readers can see that it gets very complicated at this point as to the actual meanings behind the government’s latest notification. I wonder, if the government would consider clarifying these matters for the benefit of us expatriates.
Shabbir A Bashar
Vancouver, USA
Bidhoba-der gram’–the villages
of 1971 widows
It is better late than never. According to reports in several national dailies on March 25, 2008, the 19th infantry division commander Major General AKM Mujahid Uddin, along with his brigade commander and Sherpur district commissioner (DC), unveiled a shaheed (martyr) memorial plaque and inaugurated some income-generating rehabilitation programmes for 39 shaheed families of Shohagpur village in Nalitabari Upajila. 187 men of that village were killed by the Pakistan occupation army and their local collaborators on the morning of 25 July, 1971. Since then Shohagpur village is locally called as ‘bidhoba para’ or the neighbourhood of widows. Whoever in the government initiated this rehabilitation programme has done a highly commendable job.
Shohagpur ‘bidhoba para’ is a terrifying symbol of the genocide committed by the Pakistan occupation army and their local collaborators in Bangladesh. In fact, Sohagpur’s fate was shared by many villages in the northern region bordering India, some of which are locally called as ‘bidhoba-der gram’ or the village of widows. These ‘bidhoba-der grams’ suffered most in 1971 war. Survivors of these massacres — widows and orphans — have never recovered. Justice, proper compensation and rehabilitation never touched these unfortunate shaheed families. Many lived by begging.
Regrettably, like several other matters, ‘bidhoba-der gram’ is an almost unknown chapter of Bangladesh Liberation War.
The Pakistan occupation army ‘cleared’ many villages along the border areas by burning houses/trees and by massacring local people for their ‘strategic’ (?) reason. Their aim was to prevent movement/assembly of Mukti Bahini (freedom fighters)/refugees, terrorising the civilians and plundering property. However, the series of ‘bidhoba-der gram’ is unique to Bangladesh northern border area. Many adult males of these villages were forced to work as slave labourers before being executed and they had to dig their own death trenches.
I roughly estimate that about 50-60 villages in the northern border regions of Bangladesh could be termed as ‘bidhoba-der grams’.
Korfuri Begum—a widow of Shohagpur ‘bidhoba para’—made a simple request. She said her generation would soon wither but urged that the authorities take care of their children.
I sincerely wish that the government would bring all such ‘bidhoba-der grams’ under a sustainable rehabilitation programme. I also request the Bangladesh Liberation War Museum to collect all the available information and documents regarding genocide from the surviving witnesses of these villages.
M Emad
Oxford, UK
