Dhaka, Dec 15: About 4.5 lakh women were tortured and raped by the Pakistani army and its collaborators during the 1971 War of Independence, says a recent study. Torture of women began with Operation Searchlight. A total of 18,527 women were raped in March 1971, 35,000 in April, 32,000 in May, 25,000 in June, 21,000 in July, 12,000 in August, 15,000 in September, 19,000 in October, 14,000 in November and 11,000 were raped in December. The War Crimes Fact Finding Committee conducted the study in the past few years. There is no strict data of rape, killing and kidnapping of women during the War of Liberation by the Pakistani military and their collaborators. But our team visited thousands of villages and collected data from the grassroots level, Dr M Hasan, convener of the War Crimes Fact Finding Committee, told The Independent. We conducted a survey at 85 police stations in 42 districts and interviewed 267 people. Based on the fact-sheet, we found that about four lakh and 50,000 women were raped during the nine months of the Liberation War, he said. The study revealed that about 56.50 per cent Muslim women, 41.44 per cent Hindus and 2.06 per cent from different religious groups were humiliated, Dr Hasan added.
We found that most of the victims were married about 66.50 per cent. According to the fact-sheet provided by the Indian government, 44 per cent of unmarried women, by religion Hindu, were in relief camps in India, he added.
Bangladesh had to go through war and several armed struggles to win freedom. What women had to face during the Liberation War can never be forgotten and the perpetrators forgiven.
At the second set of Nuremberg trials for the trial of the Nazis and the Tokyo Tribunal for War Crimes in the Far East after World War II, persecution by rape was admitted as a crime against humanity. More recently, the Security Council appointed separate tribunals for trial of war criminals in former Yugoslavia in 1993 and in Rwanda in 1995. In 1995, these concerns were integrated into the Beijing Platform of Action and in the Rome Statutes for the International Criminal Court, Shiri Akhter, women activist said. We hope the government will take a lesson from these trials, she added.
According to the study, Jessore, Jinadah, Barisal, Khulna, Khulna Port, Satkhira, Magura, Sylhet, Kushtia, Faridpur, Chaudanga, Gopalganj, Madaripur, Patuakhali, Bhola and Bagerhat were the worst affected areas in terms of humiliation of women.
Dr Hasan said: Unfortunately, we failed to try them.
The Geneva Convention (articles 27 and 147) specifies that women should be protected against rape in particular, and included it as an act of torture and inhumane treatment, because it constituted an attack on the integrity and identity of a woman.
The Hamoodur Rahman Commission recorded allegations of rape of a large number of East Pakistani women by officers and men of the Pakistan army as a deliberate act of revenge, retaliation and torture, but the issue is still unaddressed.
The mass of evidence coming before the Commission from witnesses, both civil and military, shows that... General Niazi had a bad reputation in sex matters, and this reputation has been consistent during his postings in
East Pakistan. The evidence of a Pakistani Colonel shows the source of the impunity of Pakistani soldiers for committing atrocities. The troops used to say, when the commander was himself a rapist, how could they be stopped, Dr Hasan said, quoting from the study.
The War Crimes Fact Finding Committee is a non-government organisation mainly doing research work on the genocide and conducting an inquiry to adjudge the horrendous crimes of 1971.
Although there is no strict data of rape, killing and kidnapping of women in Bangladesh during the War of Liberation by the Pakistani army and its collaborators, and the cases have not been taken up under international jurisdiction, the facts have not been denied. Contemporary foreign press reports and womens testimonies of rape and widowhood form part of our oral history, Shirin Akhter, womens activist, said.Come December and March, it has now become a ritual to bemoan why no justice was exacted from the Pakistani military and its collaborators for crimes of genocide and mass rape. The war victims have now raised their voice against the heinous crimes and my observation is that it is the proper time for their trial, she said.
About 4.5 lakh women were violated during Liberation War: Study