Swapnabhumi (The Promised Land)<br /><br />This is a story of six decades, three countries and statelessness. <br /><br /> A story about the Urdu-speaking community of Bangladesh. <br /><br />The terms "Urdu-speakers," "Non-Bengalees" and "Biharis" are used interchangeably to refer to Muslim people who originally emigrated from India to the newly created East Pakistan in 1947 and afterwards. <br /><br />Many of them, but by no means all, originated from the state of Bihar and were fleeing large scale communal massacres. <br /><br />Three decades later, during the struggle for independence in Bangladesh in 1971, this community became embroiled in conflict. Branded as collaborators against Bangladesh independence, this moment was a defining one for the Urdu-speakers and has had a devastating legacy. <br /><br />This story is about the 160,000 people from this community who live isolated in 116 camps or settlements in Bangladesh.
