Forty-four years after going through hell, the widows of Shohagpur village in Sherpur’s Nalitabarhi continue to live in misery.
Pakistan Army-led by Al Badr operative Kamaruzzaman had unleashed terror in Shohagpur on July 25, 1971, leaving 187 dead. Like every year, the village recounted the horror on Saturday by observing the black day.
The massacre made 64 women widows, resulting in Shohagpur being identified as ‘village of widows’.
Half of these widows are still alive. Thirteen among them were violated during the massacre.
Five of them were enlisted as freedom fighters but the rest missed out and were thus deprived of government benefits.
Members of the local martyrs’ families demanded their enlistment as freedom fighters and rehabilitation of widows and martyrs’ families.
The residents of Shohagpur thought Kamaruzzaman’s execution over the war crimes he committed during the 1971 Liberation War would erase the nightmare. It has not, as other actors in the massacre “are still around”.
Jubeda Bewa said, “Pakbahini (Pakistan force) didn’t know the village. Kader Daktar brought them in the village.”
She said, “We would have been happier if Kader Daktar, too, was hanged like Kamaruzzaman.”
‘Birangana’ Ajufa Bewa echoed Jubeda.
‘Birangana’ Hafiza Bewa expressed her satisfaction over the government’s acknowledgement of Biranganas as freedom fighters and Kamaruzzaman’s execution.
“Miseries rule our days. The government should make arrangements so that we can pass the rest of our lives peacefully,” she said.
Jaritan Bewa said she can no longer earn a livelihood owing to ill-health, and urged the government to take care of her treatment.
Ganajagar Mancha’s Nalitabarhi Upazila unit President Nazim Uddin Ahmed said the government should enlist the eight Biranganas as freedom fighters to honour them and lessen their sufferings.
“They have to apply directly to the Jatiya Muktijoddha Council or Muktijoddha Sangsad.”
He said rehabilitation of the widows and the martyrs’ families was underway, and that they would gradually get assistance from government and other sources.
Nalitabarhi Martyrs’ Family Welfare Association President Jalal Uddin urged the government to erect a monument at the ‘village of widows’.
“The Martyrs’ will find peace,” he said, proposing the monument at the place where a memorial stone erected through private initiatives stands.
But DC Rahim said the government has no plan to establish any new monument at Shohagpur for now.