These are nine Bangladeshi women who were raped by the West Pakistani army during the nine-month long war between East Pakistan and West Pakistan that resulted in Bangladesh emerging as an independent nation. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of women were raped during the war, by both sides who were fighting. Following the end of the war, women who were raped were given the honorific term 'birangona,' which roughly translates to brave woman or war heroine. But the term soon...
more »These are nine Bangladeshi women who were raped by the West Pakistani army during the nine-month long war between East Pakistan and West Pakistan that resulted in Bangladesh emerging as an independent nation. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of women were raped during the war, by both sides who were fighting. Following the end of the war, women who were raped were given the honorific term 'birangona,' which roughly translates to brave woman or war heroine. But the term soon became a mark of shame for the women, many of who were rejected by their families upon their learning that they had been raped during the war.
These nine women are part of a larger group of rape victims who have been living close to each other in Sirajganj, Bangladesh, supporting each other in ways that their families and the government now refuse to do. They have been outspoken in fighting against the social stigma associated with rape in Bangladesh, and maintain that rather than 'birangona,' they should be called 'mukti juddha' (freedom fighter), as those who fought in the liberation struggle are.
They all receive support from Sirajganj Uttaran Mohila Sangstha (SUMS), an organization founded and run by Safina Lohani. During the Liberation War, Lohani provided food, shelter, and medical aid for mukti juddha who were receiving training in preparation for battle. Following the end of the war, she established SUMS and began seeking out and providing care to those women who were sexually abused during 1971. SUMS received government backing until the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975, at which point the new government cut off all financial support and forced the organization to disband. Over the course of the next year, Lohani personally found the women who were previously under the organization's care and reestablished SUMS independently. Since then she has been maintaining and running SUMS unaided, with only the support of private donations.
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