KARACHI, Feb 10: Speakers at a press conference here on Monday warned that if the authorities did not stop harassing Bengali-speaking Pakistanis immediately, they would launch a protest movement from March 4.

The press conference was organized by the Human Rights Foundation of Pakistan. Representatives of the Foundation and various Bengali-speaking councillors, Nazims and Naib Nazims and others spoke at the press conference.

They urged the government to begin a dialogue with the elected representatives of Bengalis to formulate a policy on the issue. They said if their grievances were not rectified by March 4, all the Bengali councillors, Nazims and Naib Nazims, as a second step, would resign enbloc after the protest demonstration.

They said they were not opposing the government’s policy to register or arrest illegal immigrants, but they wanted that the majority of Bengalis, who were genuine Pakistanis, possessing documentary proofs should not be harassed by law-enforcement agencies.

They said now there were around 2.5 million Bengalis living in Pakistan, an an overwhelming majority of them were living at more than 103 settlements in Karachi. They said most of them were citizens of Pakistan having national identity cards, passports and other documents to prove their citizenship. They had their names in voter lists and had voted in the local bodies elections, presidential referendum and general elections.

They said most of the Bengalis living in Pakistan were those who had been living here since 1947. Another group was invited by President Ayub Khan and settled in Badin and Golarchi areas.

They alleged at present Bengalis were being randomly picked, taken to police stations and bribe was demanded. If bribe was paid, they were allowed to go, if not, then FIR was registered and they were sent to prison.

Speakers said the government had authorized all the councillors to attest documents, but recently Bengali-speaking councillors, Nazims and Naib Nazims had been instructed not to attest any document. It was a discriminatory policy as other councillors had the powers to attest documents, they added.