Dhaka, Sept 07: Biharis, an Urdu-speaking people in Bangladesh stranded since independence from Pakistan, staged a march today seeking a meeting with Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri who arrives in Dhaka this week. Some 70 Biharis marched as police kept a close watch, witnesses said. A community leader, Nasir Khan, said the Biharis wanted a meeting with Kasuri to tell him of their "miserable" lives in relief camps.

Around 250,000 Biharis reside in Bangladeshi camps despite repeated attempts by Dhaka and Islamabad to resolve their status. The Biharis sided with Pakistan during the bloody 1971 war that led to Bangladesh's independence.

Most have since refused to take Bangladeshi citizenship and continue to speak Urdu, Pakistan's national language.

Kasuri is due in Dhaka on Wednesday to invite Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda zia to participate in a postponed summit of the south Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and hold talks with Foreign Minister Morshed Khan. Bureau Report