Societal Treatment of Sexually Abused Women in the Liberation War of Bangladesh

By

Md Mahamudul Haque

Published in Lok Proshason Samoeeky, a quarterly ISSN journal of Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC), Vol. 36, September 2005.

ABSTRACT

The study has been undertaken to find out the societal treatment of women and girls who were sexually violated by the Pakistan army during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. Both primary and secondary data have been sought for the study. An interview method using an interview schedule was also followed for the study. The study shows that sexually abused women and girls during 1971 liberation war were not accepted by their families nor by the society normally. The sexually violated survivors of the liberation war were tarnished by social stigma and subjected to persistent negative and ill-treatment by the society. It also concludes that sexually abused women and girls were treated as a burden of a family during and after the liberation war due to the negative treatment in the society against them. The study suggests that in order to reintegrate the sexually abused survivors in wartime into the social fabric, all stakeholders, including the government, should unveil specific measures designed to protect women’s dignity and honour by discarding the customary practices that are considered oppressive and repressive.

 

1. Introduction:

The formation of Bangladesh in 1971 coincided with the death of three million people and rape of 200,000 women (according to the official figures) in a span of nine months. Sexual violence against women and girls was used by the Pakistan army as a powerful weapon of war during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. Sexual violence targeting women perpetrated by the then Pakistan army and its collaborators was so widespread that the saga of liberation war in Bangladesh became best known to the western observers as the ‘Rape of Bangladesh’. Susan Brownmiller in her ground-breaking book `Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape’ likened the 1971 events in Bangladesh to the Japanese rapes in Nanjing and German rapes in Russia during the World War II  (Brownmiller, 1975).  “… 200,000, 300,000 or possibly 400,000 women (three sets of statistics have been variously quoted) were raped. Eighty percent of the raped women were Moslems, reflecting the population of Bangladesh, but Hindu and Christian women were not exempt. … Hit-and-run rape of large numbers of Bengali women was brutally simple in terms of logistics as the Pakistani regulars swept through and occupied the tiny, populous land …” (Brownmiller, 1975).

 

Incidents of brutal killings and women rapes during Bangladesh liberation war had been investigated, recorded and documented in the history of Bangladesh. Numerous study reports and write-ups by the researchers dealing with the subject in general exist but no specific study was found on the issue of treatment of women in Bangladeshi society after they suffered sexual harassment during the war. How the issue of such violence was viewed from the social perspective in Bangladesh remained a largely unexplored territory. The women continue to be subjected to neglect, discrimination and oppression in the family, society, community and state levels and they have to fight relentlessly to assert their basic rights. Obviously such a level of disparity against women being more pronounced before Bangladesh won liberation, whether the victims of rape became socially more marginalized and deprived and exposed to a greater dose of social injustices and prejudices or was the resurgence in the spirit of liberation released during the war channelled and directed to improving the condition of women in general and the war rape victims in particular? Did the negative attitude against women have had any influence on the female war victims plight either for good or for bad or did it foster more ill treatment against them? What were the emotional states and expectations of the victims from the society and the nation and what was the social attitude toward and the perceptions about the women sufferers following the sexual violence by the occupying army or its collaborators? Had the sexual violence given rise to a new form of negligence and taboos in the society? In order to seeking such answers need a systematic investigation.

 

2. Objectives of the study:

• The objective of the study is to explore in-depth how the issue of sexual violence against women was treated in the social context of Bangladesh during and after 1971 liberation war;

 

3. Methods and Materials:

Both primary and secondary data have been sought to carry out the study.  Secondary sources such as various written materials, records and documents, including books, newspaper’s reports and online materials on the history of Bangladesh war of independence have been used for the study. Four persons–two social workers, one writer and one freedom fighter who had observed the situation of sexually harassed women during the liberation war—have also been interviewed by using an interview schedule to know their perception on the societal treatment toward the women victims. Perceptions of other observers of the liberation war quoted in other published materials have also been pointed out in the study to explore the societal treatment in this regard.

 

4. Importance of the study:

Women in Bangladesh have to come to grips with a myriad of social problems. This study will help the researchers and social thinkers to gain a better insight into a part of a grievous problem which had been least discussed and deliberated upon though it had been at the centre stage when the country’s liberation war was at its height. The planners, policymakers and political leaders may find the study useful and relevant in formulating their plans, policies and agenda with regard to the women who had been and are still the targets of sexual offences or crimes perpetrated by beastly men at war or in peacetimes. Other countries of the world facing similar situations may also draw appropriate lessons from the Bangladesh case studies.

 

5. Limitations of the study:

Bangladesh liberation war took place some 36 years back. Due to lapse of such a long time it is difficult to find out women who were the victims of sexual violence at the time. Survivors of such violence, if any, are hardly traceable now and if any of them are around, they are usually reluctant to give interviews due to the social stigma attached to such violence.

Secondly, the scope of the study is extensive in nature but it is not possible to carry out the research into it as thoroughly as is desirable due to the time lag and the lack of sufficient research materials.

6. Sexual violence against women during the liberation war of Bangladesh

A large number of women were tortured, raped and killed during the liberation war of Bangladesh. Bangladeshi sources cite a figure of 200,000 women raped, giving birth to thousands of war-babies. Some other sources, for example, Susan Brownmiller, refer to an even a higher number of over 400,000. Pakistani sources claim the number to have been much lower, though not completely denying rape incidents (cited at Wikipedia, nd).

There were many incidents of direct raping, which took place at army camps or their collaborator’s (rajakars, albadar and alshams) residences. Sexual repression by Pak army had many reasons (Chowdhury, 2007). They applied it as a method of creating panic as well as having sex. It is known from more than one source that chief of Pakistan army in the then East Pakistan General Niazi was in favour of rape. This is also mentioned in the Pakistan government’s Hamudur Rahman Commission report. Army personnel were naturally inclined to repressing women because they had never known of any soldier being punished for such an act. Instead allegations of encouraging them to indulge in such practices have been made. “Niazi himself is said to have encouraged the soldiers to commit this crime. ‘How many have you consumed yesterday, Shera (tiger)?’ were the words Niazi used to enquire from his soldiers how many women they raped (Chowdhury, 2007).”

Women ranging from teens to old women had been violated by the Pak army during the Bangladesh liberation war.  Brownmiller writes:

“Girls of eight and grandmothers of seventy-five had been sexually assaulted … Pakistani soldiers had not only violated Bengali women on the spot; they abducted tens of hundreds and held them by force in their military barracks for nightly use. Some women may have been raped as many as eighty times in a night (Brownmiller, 1975).”

Typical was the description offered by the reporter Aubrey Menen of one such assault, which targeted a recently-married woman:

“Two (Pakistani soldiers) went into the room that had been built for the bridal couple. The others (other soldiers) stayed behind with the family, one of them covering them with his gun. They heard a barked order, and the bridegroom’s voice protesting. Then there was silence until the bride screamed. (Afterwards) there was silence again, except for some muffled cries that soon subsided. In a few minutes one of the soldiers came out, his uniform in disarray. He grinned to his companions. Another soldier took his place in the extra room. And so on, until all the six had raped the belle of the village. Then all six left, hurriedly. The father found his daughter lying on the string cot unconscious and bleeding. Her husband was crouched on the floor, kneeling over his vomit (Brownmiller, 1975).”

Such incidents of rape were commonplace across the country during the liberation war in 1971. The Pakistani Army held numerous Bengali women as sex-slaves inside the Dhaka Cantonment. Most of the girls were captured from the Dhaka University and private homes (cited at Wikipedia, nd). About 200 women were detained as captives in the Polytechnic School popularly known as Jalladkhana (slaughterhouse) of Noakhali district, (Chowdhury, 2007a). They were victims of sexual repression. Eyewitnesses informed they often heard wails of women crying and groaning coming out of two dark rooms inside the school. About a hundred of them were shot dead by the occupation military before they left. Many of them came from the Hindu families. Girls were mainly trafficked from areas like Rajganj, Chhachir, Amilpara, Sonaimuri.

The above incidents revealed that women, in all age groups from the teens to old, were the victims of rape by the Pakistani army and their collaborators during the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. The violated women victims were also brutally tortured and killed after the rapes by the perpetrators. What was more gruesome was the fact that many incidents of rape took place at the army camps and the collaborators’ houses with the full knowledge and tacit approval of the then East Pakistani army chief General Niazi using such assaults and cruelties as a weapon of war against Bangladeshis.

 

7. Societal treatment of sexually abused women during and after the liberation war:

Rape, abduction and forcible prostitution perpetrated by the Pakistan occupying army during the nine months of war was the first round of torture for the Bengali women as more sufferings of different nature and longer duration entailing social humiliation awaited them following these gross violations. This section takes a close look at the modes of treatment and behaviour meted out to the sexually harassed women in the society during and after the liberation war. Societal treatment of the sexually assaulted women survivors has been evaluated in the light of the social norms, values and attitudes and the problems and the bitter experiences they lived through during and after the liberation war.

 

7.1 Marriage problem:

After the sexual attacks, many girls had faced many social problems while a family tried to arrange a marriage for any sexually abused daughter. It was socially tough to arrange marriage of the sexually abused girls as they were branded as ‘raped daughters’ in the society. Obviously, this social perception was `heightened’ during the war also (Chowdhury, 2007b). While embracing his raped freedom fighter daughter after the independence, the father whispered to her ears, `don’t tell anyone you have lost your chastity’. This female freedom fighter had to face social repression throughout her life as the stigma haunted her for the rest of her life (Chowdhury, 2007b).  “Many women were forced to go with them (Pak army) to protect their families `from social disgrace’. While some eventually returned, others opted to marry them (Pak army) apprehending they would be denied a place in their own society (Chowdhury, 2007).

The girl who was pregnant out of any wedlock believed to be damaged her family and herself. Tahera Shafiq who was a professional social worker at a rehabilitation group’s training centre said “An older sister might have difficulty getting married because her younger sister has an illegitimate child (The New York Times, 1972).” Actually, the sexually abused women and girls were treated as a burden of a family due to the social stigma.

 

7.2 Rejection by their family:

Many sexually harassed women were not accepted by their own families or the mainstream society. Tara who was sexually abused by the Pak army men during the war observed: “When I was at the rehabilitation centre, many victims’ husband, brother and father from Muslim society had visited their respective victim wife, daughter but they did not take them to their homes. Even, one army officer who had joined the liberation war said his victim wife that he could give money on monthly basis but he could not take her to his house (Ibrahim, 2001).” Soon after the war, a renowned social worker Maleka Khan who was involved in rehabilitating the raped women’s children observed:

“At that time they could not articulate their pains. It took a long time to break the ice and make them talk. I observed that a very few families were ready to accept the raped women back into their folds. The majority disowned them. My deepest emotions were stirred up when I found families rejecting their own members because they were the targets of carnal desires by Pak army men. I shudder to think if I were such a victim, would my family throw me out into an inhospitable world to face the frowns and rigors of society all by myself (cited in Chowdhury, 2007).”

After the sexual violence against women, most of the time Pak army themselves buried the victims after they had been killed. Sometimes the local people also buried the corpses in their (military) absence. No one knew the identity of those girls. Firstly, because knowing the names of women was not a customary practice and secondly, since these girls were assaulted by Pak army in most cases their family members were reluctant to rescue or reclaim them in order to avoid the shame and dishonour associated with rapes. The families of the victims rejected their own daughters, wives and sisters as the victims’ family members had believed that they had a society and they had to work with the members of the society.

 

7.3 State policy and social attitude toward war babies and abortions:

Accurate statistics are not available but it is widely acknowledged that around 25,000 women found themselves pregnant after that war (Brownmiller, 1975). Another statistics claim almost 150,000 to 170,000 women had abortions done before the abortion programme was ‘officially’ started by the government (D’ Costa, nd).

Since in Bangladesh society like many other societies, the child is known by its father’s name seeking to establish paternal identity of the child, Bangladesh state encouraged the raped women to have abortions. Dr. Davis was cited earlier as remarking that nearly five thousand women had managed to abort their babies by various medically unsafe methods (Brownmiller, 1975).

“—I can trace a coercive practice of the Bangladeshi state that was most evident in the case of war babies. They were ‘undesirable’ to the family, through the practices of the state. The state did not embrace the children as its citizens who have rights but rather insisted that they were not absorbed by the families. In this sense, neither the women nor the babies were protected by the state (D’ Costa, nd).”

Then Prime Minister of Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was in favour of social rehabilitation of raped women and repeatedly called them his daughters and asked the nation to welcome them back into the community and the family, wanted the war babies to be sent away as he thought they had ‘polluted’ blood in them (Ibrahim, 2001).

 

The women’s families in many cases also discouraged them to keep such war babies. Some families with money were able to send their daughters secretly to Calcutta, India to have abortions (D’Costa, interviews, 1999, 2002, cited in D’Costa, nd).  A newspaper’s report says “Some raped women have been sent away by their parents, some even by husbands, not to return until the birth-and not to return with baby (The New York Times, 1972).”

The thousands of pregnancies resulting from rapes created “a very delicate and sensitive social problem” in this overwhelmingly Muslim nation, a high Bangladesh official said (Trumbul, 1972).

Hameeda Hossain, a women leader and social worker, in her interview said:

“Although Bangladeshis were averse to adoption, many foreigners came to adopt the children. I once witnessed a scene where a young woman who had given birth to a baby in December was to hand her baby over to a British woman -an academic–who had come from Oxford to adopt a child. This was a boy of about 2/3 months. The mother had wanted earlier to abort the child and even tried to commit suicide. But had looked after the child and grown fond of it.  As she handed the child to the foster mother, she wept and seemed unwilling to give it.  But she was told that it would not be possible for her to take the baby back to the village. And the mother after receiving some training in handicrafts had gone back to her village.”

Doctors for one voluntary relief organization at work in field clinics said they had received some reports of baby killing (The New York Times, 1972).  Dr Geoffrey Davis of the International Abortion Research and Training Centre in London, who has visited villages throughout the country to instruct physicians in abortion techniques, said “–unwanted babies were disposed of by drowning or other means (Trumbul, 1972).”

While they (war babies) are referred to as the ‘unwanted children’, the ‘enemy children’, the ‘illegitimate children’, and more contemptuously, the ‘bastards’, their birth mothers are also variously referred to as the ‘violated women’, the ‘dishonored women’, the ‘distressed women’, the ‘rape victims’, the ‘victims of military repression’, the ‘affected women’ and the ‘unfortunate’ women (Banglapedia, 2006).

The war babies were also killed to erase their (victim women) identity as ‘raped women’ from the society to get rid of the negative societal attitude toward the incidents.

 

7.4 Social humiliation and suicidal incidents:

Social humiliation of violated women led to an increase in the incidents of suicide among these women.  Chowdhury (2007) observed that “the issue of social humiliation had grown more pronounced during the wartime. Due to a lack of communication it was easier to suppress such events of humiliation in the urban areas rather than in the rural areas”. Though no accurate data is available, it is commonly believed that many women committed suicide due to the social blemish associated with rapes. “Many birth-mothers committed suicide in order to avoid social stigma (Banglapedia, 2006).” Dr. Geoffrey Davis said that he heard of countless instances of suicide by pregnant girls…(Trumbul, 1972).

On the other hand, many women victims were brave enough to seek help to empower themselves by not contemplating suicide as an option and by not going back homes to the embarrassment of the families. Women leader and social worker Hameeda Hossain made her observation:

“They (sexually harassed women) came to meet me, to talk of what had happened to them. They had no place to go or to live in. Many of them couldn’t go back to their own homes because they had been raped and were made to feel ashamed of themselves. They needed money to ‘fend for themselves’ and to look after their children (Hameeda Hossain, nd).”

 

7.5 Vulnerability of women who participated in the war:

Many women took part in the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971 as Rokeya Begum did (Chowdhury, 2007). A limited confrontation ensued when Rokeya Begum came out to help the freedom fighters. Rokeya’s freedom fighters belonged to two different strata…some came from the same village while the others had roots elsewhere. Addressing this issue exerted a social pressure on Rokeya and others like her that added to the demands of war. Liberation war did not always a national character, the rural entity also played an important role in it (Chowdhury, 2007). Apart from such social aberrations, women warriors were exposed to risks of sexual violence and the fact that they were freedom fighters hardly afforded them immunity from being sexually attacked.

 

7.6 Women treated as ‘Birangana’ not freedom fighter:

Besides, the rehabilitation programme for the violated women, the government sought innovative ways to enhance the self-esteem of the victims and their status in the nation as noble contributors be regarded with pride (Banglapedia, 2006). In an attempt to find and promote a positive voice around these victims, the government declared them as ‘Birangana’ (heroines) not as a sign of disgrace and humiliation but as a symbol of honour and courage. It was also believed that such recognition of sacrifice would open the doors for the ‘Biranganas’ who would then be accepted by the society as both triumphant and tragic. Despite the then Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s formal declaration of the victims of rape as national heroines (Birangana) and the appeal to reintegrate them into  the community, the social status of such women improved little.

Women who joined the liberation war of 1971 were also treated as the ‘Biranganas’ (heroine) after the war.  Halima Parvin who joined the liberation war and was later taken captive and sexually abused for about 5/6 months at the Pakistani army cantonment became known in the society as a ‘Birangana’ not as a freedom fighter. But she along with her comrades took up arms in the war as armed fighters (Chowdhury, 2007). Liberation war of 1971 shattered the lives of countless women to the core. Even after winning the laurels of `Biranganas’, many women who were violated by Pakistani occupying forces lost in their fight for `rehabilitation’ and survival (Chowdhury, 2007a). The efforts of social activists to gain social recognition for the women freedom fighters in distress generally failed while social humiliation and degradation continued to cast a shadow on their lives.

 

8. Perceptions of some interviewees who observed the situation of sexually harassed women during and after the liberation war:

 

Meghna Guhathakurata, a professor of Dhaka University and a social worker, in her interview said:

“Rape was used as an instrument of war by the soldiers who want to demoralize a society. … But the women victims faced double oppression, once in being raped and twice when they were not accepted by their own families or the society.”

She further mentioned:

“Many committed suicide, some left the country with the soldiers who victimized them. Some were remarried or married to Bengali men, but had to be part of a culture of silence where they could not even tell their children what happened during the 1971 war”.

Mohd. Habibul Alam, awarded gallantry award ‘Bir Pratik’ as a freedom fighter, in his interview commented, “Those women who were victims could not come out of their shelters to the face people in the streets or in their localities due mainly to the `negative’ social fabric of our society.”

Prof. Farida Huq, an observer and writer of a book on the liberation war, said: “The women victims of sexual violence had to face a great social problem as the society did not want to accept them. So, the women victims could not overcome the social problems in many cases and they had to live a life of social pariah.”

Hameeda Hossain, a women leader and social worker, in her interview said:

“Women who had been raped by the army or their collaborators were brought here (in her organization).  They gave birth to babes here, who were given away for adoption.  Some of them did not want to part with their babies but they had little choice. Their families were not willing to take them back because they felt there was a social stigma, and the villagers would despise the whole family”.

She further observed:

“Due to the social stigma, the villagers were not willing to accept the fact of rape as a criminal offence and a war crime against the victims.  There was little political education on this. While the middle class families concealed it by sending the young girls away, poor families had no choice but to send their daughters to rehabilitation centres if they could and resigned to their condition as a curse.”

Hameeda Hossain added: Many of them (sexually abused women) overcame the social problems through anonymity concealing their condition, going away to give birth, giving their babies for adoption. Some were married off and continued to remain dependent.

Narir Kotha, a 25-minute film which is a joint production of Audio Vision (Tareq and Catherine’s production company) with Ain O Shalish Kendra, focuses on renowned sculptor Ferdousi Priyabhashini who survived sexual abuse at the hands of the Pak Army and their collaborators in 1971 at an interview she says that after independence of Bangladesh, she was faced with another ordeal as her society refused to accept her. “I became the target of terrible insult and humiliation….At one point, I realised I don’t need any human being in my life (Mehreen Amin, 2006).” It was the very isolation that led Priyabhashini to take refuge in sculpture. “As I became engrossed in my own work, I withdrew from friends and society,” says Priyabhashini.

 

 

9. Conclusion and Recommendations:

The information collected from primary and secondary sources revealed that women who were sexually assaulted by the Pakistani army and their collaborators during 1971 liberation war were not accepted by their families nor by the society. The sexually violated survivors of the liberation war were tarnished by social stigma and subjected to persistent negative and ill-treatment by the society. Sexually abused women and girls were treated as a burden of a family during and after the liberation war due to the negative treatment in the society against them. Sexual violence is looked upon as a scourge and its victims as outcasts in Bangladesh society. Attempts to rehabilitate the victims by the government and the social workers met with limited success due to the overwhelming social stigma attached to sexual violence and the negative social attitudes against the victims. Even, women who joined the war of 1971 as freedom fighters but later raped though were hailed as ‘Biranganas’ (heroines) eventually lost their glory at the altar of social sanction and taboos. It may be concluded that the social attitude were by and large responsible for the sad plight the raped women found themselves in both during and in the aftermath of 1971 liberation war. However, more research is needed to identify if other factors were also at play.

The traditional social attitude toward women and specially sexually harassed women should be changed through proper advocacy and mass communication campaigns. Government, NGOs, development agencies, mass media and the civil societies should undertake concerted and sustained efforts to improve women’s human rights situation and eliminate all forms of discrimination against them after taking lessons from the liberation war history of Bangladesh. In order to reintegrate the sexually abused survivors in wartime into the social fabric, all stakeholders, including, the government, should unveil specific measures designed to protect women’s dignity and honour by discarding the customary practices that are considered oppressive and repressive.

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