Discriminatory Laws

During the initial period of civilian rule in Pakistan (1947-58), the Government of East Bengal and later East Pakistan enacted a series of acts for acquiring and managing ‘evacuee properties’. Hindus who were forced to leave East Pakistan for India were termed as ‘evacuees’ and their properties as ‘evacuee property’. During the military regime (1958-71) a set of new laws, collectively known as ‘Enemy Property Act’, were promulgated  for acquiring and managing the ‘enemy properties’ while the evacuee laws were still in force. Hindus were treated as ‘enemies’ and their properties known as ‘enemy property’.

Within a year of the birth of Pakistan, the province of East Bengal enacted its first law for acquiring Hindu properties. The East Bengal (Emergency) Requisition of Property Act was enacted in 1948 with the stated intention of running the provincial administration and ensuring accelerated development. The act allowed for temporary and/or permanent takeover of any property by the administration which it considered ‘needful for the purpose of the state.’ However, in practice the act was widely used for selectively taking over Hindu properties.  The proceedings of the East Bengal Legislative Assembly of 1951 bear testimony to the fact that the act was widely used against the Hindus. The various judgements on the property dispute cases of the High Court and Supreme Court admitted that the act created opportunities for malpractices.

The provincial government passed the East Bengal Evacuees (Administration of Property) Act in 1949 and the East Bengal Evacuees (Administration of Immovable Property) Act in 1951 for the stated objective of administering, preserving, and protecting the immovable properties of the evacuee Hindus. However, in practice the law was used by the state to acquire immovable properties of the Hindus in an arbitrary manner. Many affected Bengali Hindus took the matter to court and got the property declared as non-evacuee property. 

In 1957, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) took over the management of the evacuee properties through the Pakistan Administration of Evacuees Property Act. Through an amendment, the Pakistan Administration of Evacuee Property (Amendment) Act in 1958, the GoP imposed a ban on the declaration of evacuee property as non-evacuee property by the court. In 1959, the GoP promulgated an ordinance which allowed a tribunal setup under the ordinance to revoke the status of any erstwhile ‘evacuee property’ declared as ‘non-evacuee’ after 1st Jan 1953 back to the status of ‘evacuee property’.

Having their immovable properties confiscated by the state, many Bengali Hindus were forced to emigrate to India. The Government of East Pakistan never paid any compensation against the immovable properties requisitioned or acquired from the Hindus as their legal ownership still lied with them. It refused to pay any rent on the properties, claiming that the rent was of ‘capital’ nature and hence couldn’t be remitted to their legal owners under exchange control regulations of Pakistan.

In the context of the war with India in 1965, the Government of Pakistan promulgated the Defence of Pakistan Ordinance which effectively defined the Hindus as the enemies of the state. The Defence of Pakistan Rules laid down the framework for taking over the ‘enemy properties’ through government order and entrusting them with a hierarchy of government appointed custodians. The Enemy Property (Custody and Registration) Order was soon passed followed by a series of notifications for taking the custody of the ‘enemy properties’.  In early 1966, the Governor of East Pakistan passed the East Pakistan Enemy Property (Lands and Buildings) Administration and Disposal Order, to empower the custodians to manage the ‘enemy properties’ and lease them out on annual basis.  A memo against the order, numbered 55(17)-9-22/65-EP, provided detailed instructions for locating, taking possession and leasing out enemy properties. Throughout the period of Emergency till 1969, the GoEP issued circulars from time to time for taking over the requisitioned properties into the domain of enemy properties, leasing out the properties and selling off the movable assets in the properties.

Though the Emergency was lifted in 1969, the Enemy Property (Continuance of Emergency Provisions) Ordinance allowed for the continuance the enemy property laws. The Requisitioned Land (Continuance of Powers) Ordinance allowed the state to control the requisition properties which not yet brought under the domain of enemy properties, as before. Similar to the Emergency period, the Government of East Pakistan issued circulars from time to time for taking over the debottar properties (dedicated in the name of Hindu deities) and renewal of lease of the leased out enemy properties.