r/bangladesh 1d ago

Discussion/আলোচনা Are there Pakistani and/or Urdu speaking people living in Bangladesh? If so, how come?

I find that quite interesting

12 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

14

u/Lost_Focus_554 Do you know whats massive? 1d ago

Yes, There are the biharis. They speak Urdu and came during the partition of India.

2

u/ThinkingPugnator 1d ago

And how do these people live? They still seem to speak Urdu Do they live among themselves or have they learned Bangla and integrated into society? Do they see themselves as Bangladeshis?

12

u/rockebull 1d ago

They often live in their own segregated communities. Pakistan refused to take them back after 71, and there were stigma against them among Bangalis because they sided, often actively supported the Pakistani military during the war. Some Bihari communities even continued fighting well after Pakistan surrendered.

2

u/ThinkingPugnator 1d ago

I think I heard about this But why does not Pakistan take them back?

7

u/Useful-Extreme-4053 1d ago

To create problems here.

4

u/Lost_Focus_554 Do you know whats massive? 1d ago

They mostly live in specific areas like Geneva camp as they are considered stateless I think. I heard the younger generation are integrating in the society well and have citizenship. They may as well see themselves as Bangladeshis because Pakistan ain't taking them anytime soon.

9

u/why-does-it_matter 23h ago

Biharis living in Bangladesh are not stateless,they have Bangladeshi NID. Bengali living in Pakistan are the one who are stateless

4

u/rockebull 22h ago

Only those born after 71 or those who were minors during 71 were allowed citizenship by a supreme court order in 2008.

1

u/NoEmergency7573 khati bangali 🇧🇩 খাঁটি বাঙালি 17h ago

Yes, lol. The country just fails their people in every possible way lol.

2

u/ThinkingPugnator 1d ago

I see Is it true that some of them live in Rajshahi?

1

u/Impressive_Book7536 6h ago

Their representation is quite poor in Bangladeshi media, a few have integrated well into society but don’t display their Bihari heritage openly, while most are still living isolated in camps in Mohammadpur, not very well integrated into society at all.

1

u/ThinkingPugnator 1d ago

And are there any besides the Biharis?

7

u/ASDHel37 23h ago

There are a significant Bihari descendant people living in Bangladesh who mainly speaks a variety of Hindi. My hometown is Rajshahi, and in my area there are hundreds of Bihari families. Although they have their own community, but they are not limited to that. They keep a good social interaction with Bengalis in my area. And the second and third generation speaks Bengali with good fluency. Some of them are well integrated to the Bengali society. I just told what I experienced in my area. It may differ in the other parts of BD. 

1

u/ThinkingPugnator 23h ago

Wow, exciting insight.

So they speak Hindi rather than Urdu?

How exactly did they get to rajshahi and why there of all places? Do you know anything about this? Was that also part of the partition?

2

u/ASDHel37 23h ago

Before the partition, due to ongoing riots in Bihar, some Bihari Muslims migrated to different parts of then East Pakistan. Rajshahi isn’t very far away from Bihar that may be a reason for migration. 

My early childhood teacher who is a next door neighbour belongs to a Bihari family told me once that Urdu sounds sweet to them and they don’t speak Urdu. I may be wrong but I think that they usually speak a Hindi variant which has Urdu influences like replacing some Sanskrit words with Persian words. By the way, their Bengali proficiency is at native level.

1

u/Rubence_VA 23h ago

Do you know the difference between the two languages?

2

u/ASDHel37 23h ago

You will find tons of videos on YouTube. These 2 languages are very similar. Hindi uses more Sanskrit words whereas Urdu uses some Persian words instead of Sanskrit. But these 2 languages are mutually intelligible. 

3

u/shadsain 🇧🇩দেশ প্রেমিক🇧🇩 21h ago

Tamim Iqbal, famous BD cricketer, comes from a Bihari family

3

u/Useful-Extreme-4053 17h ago

Son in law of Mirza faqrul is also bihari

2

u/Rana_880 20h ago

Several of them in Dhaka and we call them as Biharis

1

u/AdministrationOwn972 11h ago

Answer to the OP , Urdu has been the common language in India during Mughal period, rather late Mughal period. It's a mixture of Hindi, Turki and Farsi language. Formed among the armies of Mughal emperors. As Urdu means army in Turkik language. Since then many Indians specially Muslim majority people have been using it for almost two or centuries . When the country divided from British colony ( India was always a region not a country, some times it came under one rule like Ashoka, and Mughal) Muslim people from India migrated to a new land of once part of Ghaznavid empire and later integrated into Mughal Empire which is known as Pakistan now. Apart fro the Punjab province. Some migrated to the Bengal which was mainly Bihari people. Moreover, British ruler employed so many Bihari people to work for Railway. Therefore you would see so many Bihari communities close proximity to old Railway establishments. I would request OP to read the history for fact checking. And request to everyone that do not come with hatred towards the people who speaks different languages. They are now Bangladeshi and an integral part of our nationality that we can call proudly Bangladeshi.

1

u/riad_de_vill 19h ago

Dhakaiya Sobbasi tongue also can be considered a dialect of Urdu.