AN exhibition of c hildrens paintings on the Liberation W ar of Bangladesh was held at La Galerie to commemorate the first death anniversary of Shaheed Janantjahanani Imam

With over forty participants, all between the ages of four and twelve, not one painting was similar to another. Each picture told a different story. each child s impressions of the pain, suffering and even blood shed caused during the Liberation War of 1971 was clearly represented in the form of beautiful water colours, poster paints, pastel colours and crayon pictures. (hildren as young as fpur and five painted pictures of fanlikes crying over the death of their loved ones who tty on the ground in a pool of blood.

One of the children painted a pic ture of a troop of endless soldiers wading through sw amps holding their ammunition above their heads. Another painted a picture of two people tied to a tree with soldiers aiming powerful guns at them, beside them on the next tree were another two people being hanged and opposite these four were a number of people being lined up awaiting assas sination. This painting was done by a nine-year ok!

The impressions of a young child who was too young to have been there but old enough to realise just how much people suffered, fighting for their country .

One painting in particular that captured your attention was tliat of a ten year who's painting covered al most everything that people experienced during the Liberation War. starting from the soldiers flying the Bangladeshi flag entering a small vil Lage with children hiding in oversurd drain pipes to the soldiers kicking in >rs of houses, with women and children crying over the death of their husbands and fathers and lasdy young men and boys on the roofs of their houses aiming their guns at the en emy. This one picture depicted all these different images, all the images of the ten-year old artist.

ShtheedJononi]itiAii.irj Imani was born in Shunderpur of Murs-hidabad on the 3rd of May 1929. With an impressive educational background at the age of 23 she was made Headmistress of siddeswari Girls School twelve years later she went to the United States on a Fullbright scholarship, she then received her M A from Dhaka University. Jahanara Imam became a professor at the Teachers Training College in 1966. After leaving the institute in 1968 laiianara Imam began to get invoked in various socio-cultural organiza tions as well as writing. Of Blood and Fire ", w hich was published in 1986 and was one of Jahanara Imam s best sellers, she wrote a large number of other books on various subjects. Ixnce making a name for herself as a well respected leading women writer of Bangladesh.