Bangladesh urges Pakistan to take back Bihari refugees

The Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajid, has held talks with her Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, on the problem of repatriating nearly a quarter-of-a-million Urdu-speaking people in Bangladesh, known as Biharis.

They've been stranded there since Bangladesh's split from Pakistan in 1971.

Sheikh Hasina said the presence of the Biharis was an economic burden for her country.

Mr Sharif, who went to Bangladesh for the regional business summit yesterday, said his government would do everything possible to solve the problem, but gave no details.

A BBC correspondent in Dhaka said the Biharis are more optimistic than before as they consider the current Pakistani prime minister to be more sympathetic than his predecesor.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service