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Celebrated Bangladeshi sculptor Ferdousi
Priyabhashini is the second Bangladeshi to be chosen as "HERO” by the Reader's
Digest magazine in its December, 2004, issue.
In the article by the magazine’s Bangladesh
correspondent, Nadeem Qadir, Reader’s Digest honours Priyabhashini for speaking
out publicly in 1999 about her tormenting days in the hands of the Pakistani
army in 1971. 
“I am very happy that Reader’s Digest has
honoured me and by doing so it has honoured all who fought for this country and
recognised that independence did not come easy, but through lot of sacrifice,” Priyabhashini said after getting a copy of the magazine containing her story at
her Dhanmandi home.
In the article “Fighting for Respect,” the
self-made sculptor who works with driftwood and other cast ways to express her
soul, says “I asked myself if I was at fault, and I realised that after being
captured I had two choices: either give in to the soldiers’ lust or be killed. I
opted to live and that isn’t a crime.”
“I have been accepted and honoured” since
making my life in 1971 public, she said.
Priyabhashini says “I’m a proud witness of
the war, but I think the war is yet to end for Bangladeshi women.”
Two other heroes for December are Jasmin
Samt Simon from Indonesia and Filipino Emarith “Matet” Balili.
Ferdousi Priyabhashini is the second
Bangladeshi to be recognised by the Reader’s Digest as a hero after Abul Khair
in October, 1996. Khair came to national and international limelight after his
story was published in the Reader’s Digest. He is now the hero of ATN Bangla
television channel’s “Amrao Pari,” which won the prestigious Emmy Award.
Courtesy: nq, December 14, 2004
"Ami
Birangana Bolchi"
Repression on women by occupational
forces is no exception in world history. There are many books and films on women
repression by Nazis of Germany, fascists of Italy, and soldiers of Japan during
the Second World War. But there is no second example of brutal ways of
repressing women by Pakistanis in 1971. Government estimates say the Pakistan
military and collaborators raped 200,000 Bengali women during the war. But, in
the year after the war, international aid organizations put the figure as high
as 400,000 rape victims. Many of those women committed suicide, as they couldn't
bear the pain of repression. It is most unfortunate that the incidents of
repression on women were not recorded properly, although there were many
witnesses.
During post-liberation period, Awami League government had taken steps to
rehabilitate the women, who were repressed during the War of Independence.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was very sympathetic towards them and called
them as `Birangana' (heroic women). Renowned academic Professor Neelima Ibrahim
was involved with the government rehabilitation programme at that time. Based on
experiences of the war-repressed women, she later wrote a book titled "Ami
Birangana Bolchi" (I am the heroic woman speaking).
A victim of rape in this society doesn't want to disclose her tragedy due to
social taboos and family barriers. In Dr. Neelima Ibrahim's book, the
experiences of women in Pakistan concentration camps are disclosed on the
condition that their names remain anonymous. Those who gave statements to her
were from middle and higher-middle class families. About the list of rape
victims, Neelima Ibrahim said Bangabandhu himself had asked to destroy the list,
because he had understood that our society would not accept the war-repressed
women if their names were disclosed.
In this context of society, eminent sculptor Ferdousi Priyobhasini was the first
woman, 28 years after Bangladesh 's independence, to formally testify how she
was brutally repressed by Pakistan army during the nine-month war of liberation.
Her testimony was published in a book "Tormenting Seventy One" edited by
Shahrier Kabir and published by Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee. In the
year of 1999, during the publication ceremony of the book at National Museum,
Priyobhashini had broken her vow of silence and said, "I have disclosed my
secrets because I want the trial of the persons and army personnel who unleashed
crimes against humanity during the months of liberation and repressed numerous
women in their camps."
Ferdousi Priyabhashini was 22, working in a jute mill to support her three
children, when the war that established Bangladesh independence from then East
Pakistan broke out in 1971. She was brutally raped for 7 and half months,
terrified by the daily murders around her. Pakistan army and local people, those
who collaborated with Pakistan army and supported them, they have also
misbehaved with her. Three to five people, average, in a day, she had to
entertain them.
In her own words, "They just forcibly raped me, they took me sometimes, whatever
they want to do. And I have seen so many killings in the night. Lots of dead
bodies, thousand and thousands! They used to bring a lot of people and jute
machine, they cut their head and throw out in the river, every day."
Cultural obstacles discourage rape victims from coming forward. Every time in
this male-dominated society, they always blame women for being raped. They never
blame the men for rape. When people come to know a woman in their territory has
been raped, they not only boycott her, but also abandon her completely. They
hate them. And these women cannot work anywhere. Now Ferdousi is the first woman
in Bangladesh's history who has come out of her shell with dignity to protest
against such cultural obstacles and says she's fighting for those women who
still suffer in silence. According to her, "For them I have come out. Because of
our society, they don't want to come out. They may get divorced. Their family
may reject them. We are shelterless. I, myself, my husband's family, they did
not accept me. They have ousted me from the family and boycotted me."
Priyobhashini divulged her name and hoped her testimony would encourage the
educated women violated by the occupation army during 1971 liberation war but
did not disclose that fearing social stigma. "I cannot forget 71's torture. It
is a nightmare - I want to forget it. I have come out of all this trauma and
atrocities - it's too much, I cannot explain it. It is unbearable still! BUT
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE FOR JUSTICE. I THINK THERE'S NO SHAME IN DISCLOSING THE
MATTER. If the repressed women come forward, it would broaden the process of
trial of the Pakistan army."
Postscript:
The myth of rape robs a woman caught in such circumstances of her individuality
and her humanity. Because of the devastating effect sex crimes have on
communities, we however are noticing still in today's world that wartime rape
crimes are either encouraged or included as official military strategies. And
this is particularly so because historically the gender-based crimes have been
ignored during prosecutions or calls for accountability. Women who are raped
suffer not only the act of the rape itself but also the social aftermath.
BUT NOTHING CAN STOP Ferdousi Priyobhashini. That, at least, is part of the
growing legend that surrounds this heroic woman, where she commands unequalled
admiration and affection.
Time has come to look back to history, to honour such heroic woman for her
utmost courage to reveal the truth and also to encourage those women, who still
won't be able to express themselves, to come out of their shell.
We need to encourage them projecting Ferdousi Priyobhashini's case as exemplary
one as she shows that she should feel that she has the right at least to
breakdown- and DO SOMETHING NOT SO SIMPLE AS CRY, rather to raise her voice
against the oppression she has to face.
Footnote:
Most of the information in the present article is taken from different reference
materials and later compiled and edited. These are mentioned below:
1. A write-up from 'United News of Bangladesh', 10 November 1999
2. An interview tilted "Bangladesh Liberation War Rape Victims Demand Justice
from Pakistan": By Australian Broadcasting Corporation (First broadcast 12
December 2000)
3. "Commentary Cry of the Silence" by A.H. Jaffor Ullah, News From Bangladesh,
15 November 1999 (taken from on-line website, bangla_nuremberg)
4. "Tormenting Seventy One" by Shahriar Kabir, 31 October 1999 (taken from
on-line Journal Vivechana)
Courtesy:
Alochona Staff
Writer, this article was published on
Alochona Magazine,
on December 2001 |
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