On the night time of July 25, 1971, Pakistan Army unleashed an orgy of violence on Sohagpur – a village in Bangladesh’s Sherpur – and killed its peace.
They massacred 164 males and raped 57 girls – with assistance from native collaborators -as a part of their struggle technique to exterminate the Bengalis.
Today, over 50 girls in Sohagpur village survive as a dwelling testimony to probably the most calculated and cruelest genocide set in movement by the occupation military of Pakistan.
For the final 51 years, the village has existed as a ‘Bidhoba Polli’ (village of widows) because the husbands of the ladies staying there have been gunned down by the Pakistan army personnel, who had been ordered by their commanders to wipe out the Bengali race.
Life was rolling by peacefully in Sohagpur till the Pakistan Army carried out their savagery – raining down bombs and bullets on the villagers on that fateful night time.
They not simply murdered 164 males, but additionally raped girls, whose screams of assist had been muted by brutal pressure.
The widows went on to endure the trauma with horror tales sealed of their hearts which had been lastly unlocked in 2014 when the International Crimes Tribunal awarded demise sentence to one of many perpetrators of the crimes in opposition to them. The ruling Awami League (AL) arrange the tribunal as a part of their electoral pledge to attempt struggle criminals.
One of the ladies, who wished to not be named, shared a horrific account earlier than the court docket about how her husband was brutally murdered and he or she ruthlessly violated.
Jalal, an eyewitness, additionally narrated how he fled for his life. When he returned residence after the violence, he noticed the lifeless our bodies of 11 individuals, together with his father, mendacity there. Breaking down whereas recounting the incident, he demanded capital punishment for the killers of his father and family.
A plaque of 69 “martyrs” stands beside the mass graveyard as a surprising reminder to the largest post-Holocaust genocide of the world perpetrated by the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh.
The Pakistan Army was assisted by native collaborators in committing the crime. And considered one of them was Kamaruzzaman, a pacesetter of the controversial Islamist Party Jamaat, and his cohorts. Despite their unholy nexus with the attackers, they loved impunity for round 4 a long time after the nation grew to become impartial.
And the explanation behind impunity loved by such struggle criminals unfolds one other story of betrayal.
Within 4 years into the nation’s independence, the architect of Independence, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, together with 19 of his relations, was assassinated on August 15, 1975, on account of a bigger worldwide conspiracy — a satan’s plot to avenge the defeat of 1975.
Afterwards, all subsequent governments took a stance to reverse the course of nation’s blood-soaked liberation struggle values.
Gen Ziaur Rahman, the nation’s first army dictator, got here up with wide-ranging efforts to assist these struggle criminals wield their grip on the nation’s political panorama.
Even below his watch, secularism, a key pillar behind nation’s battle for Independence, had been placed on a again burner, which, maybe, was the largest increase for tons of of struggle criminals like Kamaruzzaman. And the formation of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was a serious transfer by the General to solidify his maintain on energy.
Under Zia, Pakistan gave the impression to be happier and stepped up its marketing campaign to justify their struggle crimes by way of a pleasant regime in Dhaka, says famous researched Ajoy Das Gupta.
The nation’s second army dictator, General HM Ershad, who succeeded Zia, was additionally no exception. Rather, he oversaw set up of Islam because the state faith, a giant milestone for the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Later, as Gen Zia’s widow took over reins with BNP’s return to energy, the bonhomie with Jamaat gained an unprecedented impetus.
Building on the legacy of her late husband, Begum Zia and her son Tarique Rahman, who’s main a fugitive life within the UK now, additional emboldened Jamaat within the nation. During the second regime led by Begum Zia and Rahman, Kamaruzzaman’s celebration colleagues had been made ministers additionally.
The celebration of struggle criminals – Jamaat — even shaped the federal government as an ally of BNP. However, the return of AL chief Sheikh Hasina to energy in 2009 modified the course for good.
Buoyed by an amazing public mandate, her authorities lastly oversaw formation of struggle crimes tribunal, a respite for struggle sufferer households. The International Crimes Tribunal was aimed to deliver to e book those who had dedicated crimes in opposition to humanity in 1971.