Pakistan is home to millions of migrants – either undocumented ('illegal') migrants or refugees – predominantly from Central and South Asia. The most well-known of these are Afghans who have been living in Pakistan (primarily Quetta and Peshawar, and, in smaller numbers, Karachi) since the onset of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and, because of the continued conflicts in Afghanistan, have continued to live there. Currently there are approximately three to four million Afghans in Pakistan, of which 1.6 million are registered as refugees with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The rest are understood to be undocumented migrants. Next in line are approximately one to two million Bangladeshi migrants who primarily live in Karachi. Others such as Burmese migrants, Sri Lankans, and Iranians, to name just a few groups, are also present in the city. This discussion, however, shall primarily focus on Afghans and Bangladeshis as a result of my fieldwork experiences.
In legal terms in Pakistan, 'Bengalis' are East Pakistanis who came to Pakistan before 1971 and are considered legal citizens of Pakistan and number approximately 40,000. However, there have recently been many reported cases in which the Pakistani identity of such pre-1971 Bengali migrants or their families has not been recognised. Anyone who came after 1971 is considered an undocumented Bangladeshi migrant. Their presence in Karachi is explained by the fact that Karachi was the hub of Muslim migration from Muslim-minority areas in India to Pakistan in 1947, as well as for migrants from erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
During my doctoral research – a comparative study of the lives of Afghan refugees and Pakistani citizens – I was intrigued to find that there is a near silence from the Pakistani government, international governments, and the international migration regime (nongovernmental organizations, international institutions and laws that manage issues of forced displacement) on the issue of Bangladeshis in Pakistan. In Karachi, as I searched for Afghans or Pakistanis to interview, I was surprised by the number of interviews I ended up doing with Bangladeshis. As a result I found myself asking why the attention on one group of migrants – Afghan refugees – is prioritised over another group – Bangladeshis? And why is it that large numbers of Bangladeshis, many of whom are in Pakistan because of the 1971 Secession of East Pakistan/ Bangladeshi War of Independence, have never been given formal refugee status and/or have received minimal attention from humanitarian organisations and the media (local, national, and international)? As I probed these questions I found myself returning to geopolitics as a key factor in determining who counts as a refugee or as a person worthy of political and humanitarian attention.
"We are nobody"
During the 1980s and 1990s, international governments and the international migration regime pumped money into Pakistan to provide relief for the massive migrations of Afghans into Pakistan. At the same time, this money was intended to help defeat the Soviet 'menace' in the context of the Cold War. Helping victims of the Soviet Union became an important tactic to win a public relations campaign and support of the Afghan resistance based in Pakistan. In the 2000s and 2010s, in the context of the Global War on Terror (GWOT), the UNHCR working with the Government of Pakistan (GOP), has intensely monitored Afghans in Pakistan through nationwide surveys and biometric identity cards. As well as helping humanitarian organisations, this surveying is connected with ongoing counterinsurgency tactics being practiced in Afghanistan and Pakistan by US-led forces. That is, it helps to 'know' the enemy in order to win a war.