War Heroines Speak - The Rape of Bangladeshi women in 1971 war of Independence

Preface

___________

Dr. Nusrat Rabbee

(translator)

Brief background of the translation

I am honored to bring this anthology of stories of Birangonas (war heroines), compiled by Dr. Nilima Ibrahim in English in 1994, to our global readers. In 2009, while visiting Bangladesh, I was gifted the book ‘Ami Birangona Bolchi’ (I am the War Heroine Speaking) by my cousin. This book contained a compilation of first-person narratives of the unspeakable atrocities suffered by Bangladeshi women during the 1971 war of independence. It opened my eyes to the details of what really happened to the war heroines of Bangladesh. The young women and children clearly express in their own voices: how they went from an idyllic childhood to the horrors of the genocide. No other book captures the true impact of the war in rural and urban Bangladesh, as well as these simple stories. Upon my return to the United States, I began the work of translating this treasure of a book. I completed this difficult task in 2010, to mark the 40th year of independence of Bangladesh. In 2012, I published excerpts on the blog page of journalist Anushay Hossain. For logistical reasons, I could not publish the whole book until 2020. Therefore, I owe an apology to the world. While there are other translations now available, I have decided to make my translation of this valuable book available worldwide.

When you read the book, you will read about the harrowing and sometimes heroic moments as recalled by these women when facing the horrors inflicted upon them by the heinous Pakistani Army. We have to know this history - not only to become aware of the violence they experienced during the war – but also about the outright rejection by the conservative Bengali society they faced after the war.

Not until we stop blaming and shaming the victims and bring the Pakistani and Rajakar1 perpetrators to trial – will the nation heal and regain its self-esteem as a nation. We demand that Pakistan be held accountable for the unspeakable atrocities they inflicted on Bengali women, intellectuals, and common people in the 1971 genocide.

Brief History of the War

In 1971, during a nine-month period (Mar – Dec), Pakistan committed unimaginable atrocities in a premeditated, systematic genocide of Bengalis in East Pakistan. The mission was to break the backbone of the country – so it may never rise as a sovereign nation. The Pakistani army tortured and killed at mass scale; executed leading intellectuals, destroyed infrastructure and assets, and carried out genocidal rape of women in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). These crimes against humanity were planned and executed by Yahya Khan and his generals. It is reported that as many as 3,000,000 Bengalis were killed; more than 1,000 elite intellectuals were executed; and more than half a million women were raped over 9 months. Yahya Khan, the Hitler of Pakistan, made the anti-democratic move to deny Sheikh Mujibur Rahman his legitimate claim to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1970 . In fact, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was a prominent politician in West Pakistan, also refused to accept the fact that Sheikh Mujib won the majority of the parliamentary seats in all of Pakistan. In concert with Bhutto, General Yahya postponed the post-election, inaugural session of the National assembly indefinitely. They viewed the free-spirited Bengalis in East Pakistan, who engaged persistently in movements for political power and equality - with fear, contempt and hatred.

The outraged citizens of East Pakistan rose up in a powerful, non-cooperation movement after Sheikh Mujib was denied the office of the Prime Minister- despite being legitimately elected in 1970. In retaliation, Yahya unleashed a total annihilation campaign on innocent Bengalis in the dark midnight hour of March 25, 1971. The blood bath, dubbed “Operation Searchlight”, was an outright ethnic cleansing, covered up by a thin veneer of false propaganda. The propaganda claimed the Bengal uprising involved only a small number of pro-Indian subversives and extremists. With Nixon and Kissinger aiding and abetting the genocide, Yahya carried out the savage mass slaughter and rape – until word got out and an international outcry formed over the genocide. A humanitarian crisis ensued with more than ten million Bengali refugees crossing over to India in despair. The genocide destabilized the whole Indian sub-continent. With the brave Bengali freedom fighters (Mukti Bahini) gaining ground on the Pakistani army and the Indian army getting ready for a full-scale war that would surely destroy Pakistan, Yahya was forced to surrender on December 16th. Bangladesh achieved its independence but at an extremely high cost. The Pakistani army made a hasty retreat with almost 90,000 soldiers, who were guilty of heinous war crimes and who were going back home without paying a price.

War Crimes Trials for Collaborators

At the time of publishing this translation in 2020, Pakistan has gotten away with it.

Pakistan has not expressed regret, shame – not has it admitted responsibility for the absolute, mass-scale destruction it caused in Bangladesh. In 2009, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) of Bangladesh, which is a domestic war crimes tribunal - began investigating and prosecuting several Rajakars (local Bengalis who collaborated with Pakistani army) in connection with the genocide and intellectual killing. However, it is the mass protests in early 2013 @Shahbhag square that gave Bangladesh the moral courage to demand life imprisonment or death penalties for the war criminals.

The Intellectual Extermination

During the ICT proceedings, the nation heard the details of the horrendous war atrocities. Evidence of mass graves, mass rape centers and Pakistani-made blueprints of Bengali intellectual extermination were presented to support the indictments. Subsequently, in 2013, nearly 42 years after independence, the ICT court gave the death penalty to many of the Rajakar murderers; including two infamous war criminals, Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan, who played a pivotal role in the intellectual killing. These two helped Pakistani army plan and execute the extermination of more than 1,000 intellectuals during the last hours of the Liberation War in 1971. These disgraced killers are currently hiding in the UK and the US respectively. They need to be extradited to Bangladesh so they can face consequences for war crimes.

My parents

I would certainly be remiss if I did not mention that my father, Dr. Mohammed Fazle Rabbee, perished in the infamous intellectual killing mentioned above. He was the leading physician intellectual who was killed eleven hours prior to the surrender of the Pakistani army on December 16th, 1971. The elite of Bengal was killed to break the backbone of the country about to be born. Dr. Fazle Rabbee (MBBS, MRCP- London, MRCP-Edinburgh) was the chairman of cardiology and internal medicine in Dhaka Medical College at the time. He assisted thousands of injured Freedom Fighters, women and children during the massacre. In 1972, after the war, my mother, late Dr. Jahan Ara Rabbee joined the Women’s Rehabilitation Center to help rebuild the war-torn nation. This is where she got to meet and work with some of the girls and young women survivors of war. The Bengali martyred intellectuals envisioned a progressive society – and a country that would be founded on principles of equality and justice. These principles are opposite of the violent, exploitative principles of Pakistan of that time. In the heroic stories captured in the book you will see that Bengali women were free-spirited, simple and innocent and above all, brave. They did not think for a moment that their generation would be destroyed in 1971.

Rape as a Weapon of War

It has taken longer for Bangladesh to become aware of and acknowledge the systematic rape and violence perpetrated against women during the war. Truth is, the 1971 war of independence may have been the first case of using rape as a weapon of genocide. From a historical context, such heinous destruction by Pakistan in this scale and rate - is second to none. Pakistan not only continues to deny or minimize the genocide or gaslight the world about what happened– but in 2013, it even tried to obstruct Bangladesh from bringing the local Rajakars to justice.

The world deserves to know about the assault, rape and murder of Bengali women in 1971. The young generation of Bangladeshis, who demanded capital punishment for Rajakars @Shahbag square in 2013, has also demanded to know about the planned sexual violence and barbarism of the Pakistani regime. Unfortunately, very little history is recorded from rape survivors of 1971 – because of the social taboo and the tradition of silence on this topic. Hence, I felt it is very important to translate “Ami Birangona Bolchi” for this young generation. This is a rare anthology compiled by Dr. Nilima Ibrahim (deceased) where seven women recount their harrowing experience of rape, terror and trauma perpetrated by the monsters of Pakistani army. My intent is to raise consciousness about the stigma surrounding this history. I also want to demand justice on behalf of these brave women who faced wartime rape and torture.

Acknowledgements

I thank the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, for broadly supporting the ICT trials of the Rajakars of 197I. This process is still ongoing. We have to continue our efforts to extradite those cowardly murderers who are hiding overseas to avoid due punishment. We have to demand that...