ICT dubs 'Biranganas', war children national heroes

Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal has honoured war-time rape victims as heroes and said the country could no longer afford to ignore them.

"The war-time rape victims are our great mothers and sisters. We cannot shut our eyes anymore," the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) said.

The ICT-2 made this observation on Tuesday as it handed down the death sentence to war criminal Syed Mohammed Kaiser.

Kaiser, who terrorised Habiganj during 1971 War of Independence, was given the death penalty for crimes "worse than murder" committed during the nine-month freedom struggle.

Biranganas are women who were violated by the Pakistani military and their local collaborators during the war against Pakistan.

The tribunal in its verdict urged the nation and society to recognise and honour the war children and sacrifices of the Biranganas, “to heal their wound, to compensate the barbaric wrongs done to them”.

It also referred to Biranganas and their children as 'national heroes' in its observation.

"War-time rape victims are the greatest mothers and sisters of the soil indeed. They are the integral part of our war of liberation.

“They are our pride. They fought for our independence, by making supreme sacrifices involving their personal honour and fighting bravely. The nation salutes them, their sacrifices."

The second war crimes tribunal, headed by Justice Obaidul Hassan, convicted the 74-year old former Jatiya Party minister of 14 of the 16 charges brought against him.

Kaiser, a Muslim League leader in 1971, was given the death penalty on seven charges.

Apart from murder, arson, loot and massacre, he was convicted of assisting and abetting the rape of two women, Hiramoni Santal and Majeda Begum.

Majeda and her war child Shamsunnahar testified in the case.

This is the first time the tribunal has condemned a war criminal to death for rape.

The tribunal in its observation also hoped the government would move to reduce their misery.

"The victims of sexual violence, including the victims before us, need redress in the form of social-service packages for their rehabilitation and psychosocial stability."

"Many of the rape victims have already died. They deserve posthumous honour that may reduce the pains and trauma of their dear and near ones," it observed.

It said that Biranganas and the war children were the primary victims of the war, while freedom fighters were secondary victims.

It said they were "still pulling on with their traumatised lives and carrying the stigma with them in the absence of any honour and recognition on part of society and the nation for their highest sacrifice".

"Victims of war rape should be honoured as freedom fighters and their untold pain must not be ignored," the special court further observed in the judgment.

After the war, the architect of the nation’s independence, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had described women who suffered in 1971 as ‘Biranganas’.

In October this year, the government recognised them as Freedom Fighters.

The tribunal observed, "More than four decades have passed already. But the war rape victims and war children still alive have been suffering from long-term psychological effects of rape that often include many types of disorders, such as, panic attacks, flashbacks, feeling of shame and dishonour, sense of insecurity and other ailments affecting normal life."

"These effects can even last lifelong if the victims and war babies born as a result of sexual violence do not get support and care from the society and the state.

The tribunal continued, "Hundreds of thousands of rape survivors remained socially ostracised and unattended. The nation must raise a collective voice that they are war heroines (Biranganas)."

"They are brave freedom fighters as they, too, sacrificed their supreme self-worth, for the cause of our independence."

The prosecution had pleaded for confiscating Kaiser's assets and compensating Hiramoni, Majeda and Shamsunnahar.

The tribunal in the verdict, however, said it expected that the liberation war affairs and social welfare ministries, social organisations and non-government organisations would initiate prompt and effective measures to reduce sufferings of the Biranganas and war children.

"It is true that the trauma they suffered can never be minimised. However, they should never be left unattended and uncared for as it humiliates the society, the nation, the humanity, and our conscience."

"It is to be done to remove the scar imprinted not only on rape victims but on society and the nation. Therefore, much greater and systematic attention is now needed for their psycho-social protection, we emphasise," said the second war crimes tribunal.