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Bihari Muslims

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Bihari Muslims make up a significant minority in Pakistan under the diverse community of Muhajirs (lit. 'migrants'), and largely began arriving in the country following the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which led to the secession of East Pakistan from the Pakistani union as the independent state of Bangladesh.

The majority of Bihari Muslims adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam and the adoption of the religion by Biharis traces back to the 14th century, when Afghan traders and Sufi missionaries began to arrive in the region a century prior to the Mughal conquest of India. There are also a significant minority of Biharis who adhere to the Shia branch of Islam, largely residing in Patna and Gopalpur in Siwan, tracing their religious descent to Shia Muslim settlers of distant Persian ancestry from Lucknow in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, who arrived in the region during the 19th century.

History

The large-scale arrival of Muslims in Bihar began in the 14th century, when Turk traders and Sufi saints-warriors settled in the South Bihar plains and furthered the process of agricultural colonisation while also spreading Islam among the local populace. Muslims were not the only new immigrants to Bihar during this period. Inscriptions in Bihar Sharif tell of a Sufi warrior by the name of Malik Ibrahim Bayu who came to Bihar and defeated the non-Hindu Kol tribe who had been oppressing the local Muslims. He conquered many Kol chiefdoms.

Some of the kings and chieftains of medieval Bihar were Muslim. The chieftaincy of Kharagpur Raj in modern-day Munger district was originally controlled by Hindu Rajputs. In 1615 after a failed rebellion by Raja Sangram Singh, his son, Toral Mal converted and he changed his name to Roz Afzun.

The Faujdars of Purnea (also known as the Nawabs of Purnea) created an autonomous territory for themselves under the leadership of Saif Khan and ruled in parts of Eastern Bihar in the early 1700s. They were engaged in a protracted conflict with the neighbouring Kingdom of Nepal.

Many Bihari Muslims migrated to West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) after the 1946 Bihar riots following partition of India in 1947. In the context of the 1971 war in Bangladesh, Biharis were seen as collaborators of the Pakistan Army and subjected to violence of all sorts. They then sought refuge in Pakistan. While the 1973–74 Delhi Agreement facilitated the repatriation of some refugees, only 144,800 non-Bengalis were repatriated to Pakistan, with over 258,000 left awaiting relocation. In Pakistan, many settled in Karachi's low-income neighbourhoods such as Orangi Town, Korangi Town, Musa Colony, and others. However, these communities remained vulnerable, particularly during ethnic conflicts like the Qasba-Aligarh Colony Massacre in 1986. Repatriation efforts slowed significantly after 1982, with only 15,000 Biharis resettled in Pakistan by then. A brief resumption in 1993 resulted in the transfer of just 53 families before protests halted the process again. This has led to the issue of stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Biharis faced legal and social barriers to citizenship. It was not until a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that Biharis born after 1971, or who were minors at the time, were granted Bangladeshi citizenship and voting rights.

The 1989 Bhagalpur violence was one of the deadliest episodes of communal rioting in post-independence India. Beginning in October 1989 in Bhagalpur and spreading to nearby villages, the violence lasted nearly two months, killing over 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, and displacing thousands, leaving a lasting impact on Indian Bihari Muslims.

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