| 1964 East Pakistan Ethnic Cleansing | |
|---|---|
 Rioters attacking the Dhakeshwari Temple in Dhaka | |
| Location | East Pakistan |
| Date | 2 January 1964 – 28 March 1964 |
| Target | Bengali Hindus, Garos |
Attack type | Massacre, Forced conversion, Plunder, Arson, Abduction and Rape |
| Deaths | 1,000+ (Pakistani government estimate)[1] |
| Perpetrators | Ansars, East-Pakistan Rifles, Muslim rioters |
| Motive | 1963 Hazratbal incident |
The 1964 East Pakistan riots refer to the massacre and ethnic cleansing of Bengali Hindus from East Pakistan in the wake of an alleged theft of what was believed to be the Prophet's hair from the Hazratbal shrine in Jammu and Kashmir in India. The salient feature of the pogroms was its urban nature and selective targeting of Bengali Hindu owned industries and merchant establishments in the capital city of Dhaka. This resulted in unending waves of Bengali Hindu refugees in neighbouring West Bengal. The refugee rehabilitation became a national problem in India, and hundreds of refugees were resettled in Dandakaranya region of Odisha & Madhya Pradesh (now in Chhattisgarh).