Urdu-speaking Bihari Moslems, stranded in Bengali-speaking Bangladesh since it emerged as an indepen.., 1997-08-15 (photo)

Urdu-speaking Bihari Moslems, stranded in Bengali-speaking Bangladesh since it emerged as an independent country in 1971, demonstrate in Dhaka August 14 to press their long-ignored demand for repatriation to Pakistan. The Biharis, who helped the Pakistani army when former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) declared independence in March 1971, opted to remain in Pakistan after the war ended in December 1971. But some 400,000 of them are still stranded in Bangladesh. The demonstrators carried placards showing Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (L) and her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (R), Bangladesh's independence leader who was killed on August 15, 1975 in an army coup. The Biharis timed their latest protest as Pakistan celebrates its 50th anniversary of independence.