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Salute them for their sacrifice

War tribunal calls for honouring the victims of rape during Liberation War

Mahbubur Rahman Khan andTuHiN Shubhra Adhikary
Describing the rape of women in 1971 as "the rape of the entire proliberation community", a court yesterday said time has come to recognise and honour the Biranganas or the "war heroines", ostracised by the society for decades.
"Mass rape is graver than murder... The effects of rape as a weapon of war do not cease once the rape is over, or once the physical wounds are healed. The wounds of rape never heal, and they leave permanent scar on victims, their families, communities, nations and even the humanity too," observed the International Crimes Tribunal-2 in its judgment in the war crimes case against Syed Mohammad Qaisar.
Qaisar was sentenced to death on seven charges of killing and mass rape during the country's Liberation War in 1971.
For the first time in the history of Bangladesh, the special tribunal handed down capital punishment to a war criminal for involvement in "genocidal rape". In previous instances, the two war crimes tribunals awarded jail terms to those convicted of wartime rape.
"We cannot shut our eyes any more. The nation, the society must come forward to recognise and salute their sacrifices, to heal their wound, to compensate the barbaric wrongs done to them," the court said.
"Many of the rape victims have already died. They deserve posthumous honour that may reduce the pains and trauma of their dear and near ones," it added.
The tribunal in its judgment quoted an article titled "Rape as Genocide: Bangladesh, the Former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda" by Lisa Sharlach, in which an Indian columnist, Amita Malik, describes an account of a Pakistani soldier before surrender.
"In a coarse gesture a West Pakistani soldier said, 'Hum ja rahe hain. Lekin
beej chhor kar ja rahe hain (We are going. But we are leaving our seeds behind)’. Behind that bold statement lies the story of one of the most savage, organised and indiscriminate orgies of rape in human history: rape by a professional army, backed by local armed collaborators.
"It spared no one, from elderly widows to schoolgirls not yet in their teens, from wives of high-ranking civil officers to daughters of the poorest villagers and slum dwellers. Senior officers allowed, and presumably encouraged, the forced confinement of innocent girls for months inside regimental barracks, bunks and even
tanks," the article says.
According to historical documents, between 200,000 and 400,000 Bangladeshi women and girls were raped by Pakistani occupation army and its auxiliary forces in 1971.
"We recall with laudable appreciation that the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in recognition of their glorified sacrifices, honoured them as 'war heroines' immediately after the independence," the tribunal said.
In 1972, the government established the Women's Rehabilitation Board for the victims of wartime sexual offences. But after the assassination of
Sheikh Mujib in 1975, the programme was effectively closed.
"The war rape victims and the war babies who are still alive have been suffering from long-term psychological effects of the rape that often include many types of disorders, such as, panic attacks, [traumatic| flashbacks, feeling of shame and dishonour, sense of insecurity and many other disorders affecting normal livelihood," reads the verdict.
Though the court acknowledged that the victim of a crime has the right to be adequately compensated, rehabilitated and repaired, it did not impose compensation on the convict
as the relevant law does not permit it. However, it made some suggestions. The Liberation War affairs and the social welfare ministries, and social and non-government organisations are expected to initiate necessary steps first to identify the wartime rape victims and the "war babies", and then to formulate effective programmes to honour them, to "reduce their disorders" resulted from the trauma, to help them get rid of the stigma, and to make arrangements for providing them with monthly honoraria, the verdict reads.
"It is to be done to remove the scar imprinted not only to rape victims but to society and the nation," it adds.
The tribunal opined that the state cannot ignore designing programmes to provide long-term support to rape victims and the war children.
“The Government may take immediate initiative of forming 'Reparation/ Compensation Scheme/Board for war time rape victims who sacrificed their supreme self-worth for the cause of our independence," Justice Obaidul Hassan read from the verdict.
Dedicating the verdict to the Biranganas and the war children, prosecutor Tureen Afroz said the judgment recognised the contribution of the women, who sacrificed their honour in 1971, to the country's liberation.