Suspended identity: statelessness, citizenship challenges and the impermanence of identity status faced by Pakistani Bengalis

Approximately 3 million ethnic Bengalis reside in Pakistan, some ofwhom have been refused citizenship rights and continue to facesocial and cultural exclusion despite being in their third and fourthgenerations. Many came following the creation of Bangladesh (for-merly East Pakistan) in 1971 under challenging circumstances. Thispaper examines the ongoing citizenship challenges faced by thePakistani Bengali community in Karachi, Pakistan, with a particularfocus on their experiences within the space of the citizenshipregistration office. Drawing on 85 oral history interviews withboth adult and young Pakistani Bengalis, our findings reveal thatthe treatment of Pakistani Bengalis in this space is shaped bydominant racialised commonsense representations of them as‘eternal outsiders’ and ‘unworthy of belonging’, rooted ina historical past marked by conflict and a series of exclusionarycitizenship and state-security policies. Consequently, many are metwith discrimination and challenges around identity acquisition,resulting in lasting intergenerational impacts in their own andtheir family’s everyday lives, leaving them precarious. Our papermore broadly argues that within the social imagination of nations,particularly post-colonial ones, certain groups are constructed asoutsiders, shaping racialised understandings that influence discri-minatory citizenship practices in turn creating a state of suspendedidentity.