Nirmul Committee and MSSK Trust took initiative to honor and rehabilitate distressed freedom fighters, war victims and victims of recent communal persecution.
Although rehabilitation of distressed freedom fighters is not the task of Nirmul Committee or MSSK Trust, and although there are a number of govt., semi-govt. and NGOs working in this area it has been observed on several occasions that there are hundreds and thousands of freedom fighters yet to receive any govt. or non-govt. support after so many years of the liberation war.
For the freedom fighters and victims of war and communal persecution, living in remote areas, it is not possible for them to draw attention of govt. organizations or even media. Therefore, they are still continuing their struggle for survival living in miserable condition.
Nirmul Committee started its programme for rehabilitating distressed freedom fighters in 1996. During the 5th National Conference held on 19-20 April 1999, Nirmul Committee honoured Meherunnesa and Halima Khatoon, two women freedom fighters of Bagerhat, who were found in distressed condition working as housemaid and day labourer. NC presented them two Rickshaws, clothes and cash Tk. 2000 each. Till now NC and MSSK trust have honored more than hundred freedom fighters and war victims. A recent programme was organized by ‘Muktijuddher Shahid Smriti Pathagar’ (Liberation War Martyrs’ Memorial Library) Ulipur of district Rangpur. Nirmul Committee presented winter clothes and cash among 30 distressed families freedom fighters and war victims of that area. (Please see Shahriar Kabir’s article titled ‘A Land Stricken by Communal Persecution, Poverty & Deprivation’)
The Nirmul Committee started supporting victims of communal persecution since October 2001. The present ruling alliance led by BNP Jamat-e-Islami assumed power after the 8th parliament election held on 1 October 2001. Since then gangsters of BNP and Jamat-e-Islami started an unprecedented persecution on religious and ethnic minorities. Nirmul Committee strongly condemned this barbaric act of the alliance govt., immediately arranged a round table discussion on 9 October 2001, attended by the representatives of different human rights organizations and leading journalists and intellectuals of the country. (Please see text of the Concept paper titled ‘The 8th Parliamentary Election and role of the civil society’).
On 20 October 2001 NC leaders addressed a press conference attended by Purnima Rani Sheel and their family. Purnima (14), a minor girl of Sirajganj was gang raped by the local cadre of BNP just after the election and all her family members were beaten severely followed by extensive plundering. Purnima’s mother Bashona Rani Sheel broke into tears while narrating atrocities of local gangsters of BNP. (Please see the full text of Shahriar Kabir’s speech at the press conference)
Nirmul Committee and ‘Fara Laria Foundation’ gave Taka 25 thousand to Purnima to meet their immediate need. Nirmul Committee also took responsibility of Purnima’s higher education and still continuing the support. Apart from financial help Nirmul Committee also provided legal and medical support to more than a dozen Hindu families who suffered severe persecution during the last two years

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It is difficult to ascertain whether Hemabala Bewa is a man or a woman, or her age, unless told. She could be sixty, seventy or eighty. Standing on her threshold, before her dilapitated hut, in the village Chilarong Telipara which is 15/16 km. away from Thakurgaon, a northern district of Bangladesh, she related her tales of communal persecution.
She was clad in a tattered lungi and brown sweater and wrapped in a cheap green shawl. She is dark, wrinkled, with trimmed gray hair. To us she narrated the story of how her daughter in-law was raped and her eyes gouged out by miscreants.
The incident took place on 11 September, 2003 when Radharani had gone to gether firewood in the sugarcane field. She was gang raped by a band of three men who were headed by Rafiqul known as the local hoodlums of the B.N.P. She was forced into the sugarcane plantation and raped by all three miscreants who pulled out her eyes and was left unconscious in the field.
She was later found in a critical state by her neighbours, they found her gouged out eyes lying beside her. This news was published in the Dhaka newspapers. The ‘Hindu, Buddhist, Christian Unity Council’ demanded exemplary punishment of the miscreants in their protest march to the District Commissioner’s office, where they handed over a petition. Advocate Indranath Roy disclosed that since the government led by the Four Party Alliance assumed power the atrocities committed on the Hindus have forced several thousand to flee to India. Since Thakurgaon is close to the border, it is easy to cross over to safety.
We asked Radharani, who is now blind, what she wished to do. She could barely speak. Her neighbour Tileshawari told us that the group had been repeatedly warning her not to disclose their identity and leave the village. Of the three alleged person two were arrested, but one attained a bail and after his release had been threatening Radharani of graver consequences. The threat is to compel Radharani and her neighbours to leave their homeland. Her neighbour Tileshwari told us that as precautionary measure the women of the village do not venture out alone. If they go to the fields to take the cows and goats to graze, they do so in a bunch and carry knives for protection. Tileshwari also implored Radharani to tell us in detail about those who torchured and impaired her eyes and demanded punishment.
Radharani merely mumbled that she wants justice, and lifted her sad face. Her hair was unattended and there was only the taint of the vermilion dot on her forehead. Then she suddenly cried out that she is being unable to work as she had become blind, how will she make her living?
Both Radharani and her husband worked as day labourers for their living. They earned 15 to 20 Taka a day, seven members of their family lived on that income. Over the last three months this income has been disrupted. They have been barely ling on the income of the sole earner¾ that is Radharani’s husband. There is partial starvation¾this was narrated by Radharani’s mother-in-law Hemabala.
Hemabala’s son Molin was not present during our visit. He had gone to the nearby market to sell rice having borrowed money from a local money lender. Rice is 300 taka per maund, selling which he will have 20 taka profit.
In North Bengal this was the time of harvest. On our way we saw the reap piled on stacks in the threshold of the peasant’s houses. At the time of year when peasants celebrate the harvest moon, this family of Hemabala is uncetain of what is to come. One of the two earning member has become invalid. The family is more concerned about the loss of the income rather than the lost eyes and honour. They are concerned about how and on what they will survive.
We went to Thakurgaon on 14 December 2003, to attend a rally organized by the ‘Nirmul Committee’ for commemoration of the Martyr Intellectual day. We were informed by a member of the ‘Hindu Buddhists Christian Unity Council’ about this family. We went to visit them later in afternoon.
The village Telipara Chilarong is primarily a Hindu village. They have been under tremendous stress as threats of extortion, abduction of the younger women had been hurled at them. A ransom of 50 thousand taka was demanded from one Ghanashyam and if he failed to give the money his daughters would be abducted.
Hemabala cried out¾ “we have no other option but to die”. Looking at her we felt anger along with the sadness. Ever since the religio fundamentalist, communal four party alliance assumed power they have unfurled a reign of terror on the minorities, especially the Hindus in Bangladesh. These parties (BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and Islamic Oikyo Jote) want to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh, therefore, Khaleda-Nizami alliance are out to force the Hindus out of the country, but what about the other parties who but watch these atrocities? Is there no one to stand up against this barbaric act? Can’t the opposition parties take up measures to prevent it?
Hemabala’s hut is nerely a shack which will wither away at the touch of the wind anytime. Only 30 thousand taka can save this family from the impending doom. The condition of the others were also the same.
Just after our return from Telipara to Thakurgaon we found an old Santal waiting to see us.
Advocate Mario Tudu is the only Santal member in the lawyers association of Thakurgaon. He had visited Ranishankail. One Kamalong Murmu (69) came with him to tell us that his daughter-inlaw Beauty alias Talamai was raped and later killed with her throat slit open. This incident took place on 19 September 2003. Only one of the alleged three misereants was taken into custody by the police. Lately, word has been around that he too will be released soon as he has not confessed. Rather those who have lodged the complaint will be arrested for bringing about false allegation.
The old man speaks only in his mother tongue, his words was translated by Mario Tudu, the lawyer from his community. He said that he only wanted us to publish the story of harassment he faces till today in the newspapers, that the miscreants were cadres of the ruling party. These men wanted the old man to withdraw his complaint. Tomalong was converted to Christianity just three months before along with his other family members.
Tamalong told us that as he has no schooling the police incharge worded the complaint which he only signed. He heard later that the report was distorted, the rape was not mentioned, only the murder was reported half heartedly.
In case of Radharani’s report the same distortions had taken place. The medical report mentioned ‘forceful intercourse’ instead of ‘rape’. Extortion and bribery can change versions overnight. Unless one visits the remote areas of Bangladesh they will not be able to conceptualize the extent of the communal repression, deprivation of justice and anarchy that has become the rule of the day.

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On the occasion of the Victory Day, I visited the remote areas of North Bengal (northern areas of Bangladesh) as on this day last year and the year before I was in jail. Even this year I was almost certain that I would be condemned to bear the same fate as the previous years as the papers belonging to the ruling party and fundamentalist groups had been strongly criticizing my activities in support of the minorities victimised by the gangstars of the ruling cleaque. As I was exempted this year (2003) I went off to visit the near famine stricken northern Bengal and also to observe the victory day with local freedom fighters and deprived families of the martyrs.
Earlier I read the sensitive reports of the renowned journalist Monajatuddin and others about poverty stricken North Bengal, but witnessing the throes of starvation is altogether a diffefent experience.
The widow of Dr. Alim Chowdhury (who was Killed by Al-Badar, the killing squad of Jamat-e-Islami in 1971), Shymoli Nasreen Chowdhury had contributed 10 thousand taka to Nirmul Committee’s find for the starving men and women in the north. It is quite a big sum for a middle class house wife but for the starving millions, it is merely a drop of water. But again adding some more to that amount could be of help to them.
The journalist of “Bhorer, Kagaj” Porimol Majumdar, who is also a member of ‘Nirmul Committee’ accompanied us to Ulipur in Kurigram. He has compiled a major finding how 700 people were killed and thrown in a ditch in 1971 by the Pakistani occupation army and their local collaborators. He gave us a list of 30 distitute families who are the victims of war and fought the war of ’71.
On 16th December we reached Ulipur at 10 a.m. A rally was organised in front of the library set up by ‘Nirmul Committee’. The freedom fighters, their families, family members of the martyrs were present. We had compiled a book earlier on how after so many years the lives of near and dear ones of the martyrs suffered as their dreams remain unfulfilled. Though the freedom war has ended but the struggle to be free of hunger and poverty is still on.
On one side of the stage they sat. Sad faces, aged these are the people for whom we got our freedom. We were there to hand over some money that several members of “Nirmul Committee” had sent from Dhaka.
These are the freedom fighters who had actually fought the war and today they are rickshaw pullers sweepers or beggars. These are the widows and mother of the martyrs who lost the only earning member of the family during the war.
We were supposed to lay floral wraths at the Shaheed Minar. The procession was led by the family members of martyrs’ and the freedom fighters instead of the leaders who usually lead in Dhaka or elsewhere. As we stood in silence after having laid the wreath, one of the widow in the crowd broke down crying. Hearing her sob the others could not restrain. It was hard to control the long restrained tear. The silence broke as the widows of the liberation war cried. Others also could not restrain their tear. The journalists, the spectators watched with tears as some of the widows beat their heads against the concrete of the Shaheed Minar (the martyrs monument) as if it was the wailing wall.
While narrating their story on the stage they kept on crying. They related the story of when the Pakistani armies were shooting indiscriminately how the young son of Batashi Bewa had snatched the rifle from their hand and later killed before the mother ruthlessly for the courage he showed.
Julaf Bewa’s husband and his brother were both bayonated before her eyes. No one wanted to know how she survived since then. Over thirty two years these women are living a miserable life on partial starvation. These women had no education to seek a job, nor could they beg door to door. Now their ailing health need care, their relentless suffering mind a little solace.
In the stage were the convenor of the Nirmul Committee of Kurigram Abdul Majied and General Secreatry of the central committee Kazi Mukul. The both couldn’t speak a word when they were to address the crowd.
While delivering my speech and relating of the atrocities in ’71 I could not help thinking how with no less ruthlessness Radharani of Thakurgaon was treated, how Hindus and the intellectuals and Awami League activists harassed, persecuted, killed, tortured for what they believe in. How the victim of ’71 face the same situation of terror they had come across 32 years earlier. How after 30 years the collaborators of ’71 the Jamaat-e-Islami become part of the ruling class and run the country. What Yahya Khan and his army junta had done in ’71 to keep the two wings of Pakistan together in the name of Islam and failed to do so, their collaborating friends of Jamaat-e-Islami unfurl such terror after 30 years in revenge.
We gave each family a sum of two thousand taka, a blanket and a wrapper. But for a family to sustain, this sum is meagre. So many times I have requested the Bengalies abroad to take up the responsibility of each of the destitute family of the martyrs to save them from the humiliation of having to beg from door to door. This sector during the war was under Col. Abu Taher. His brother Waresat Hossain Belal gave the blankets from his factory to distribute amongst the destitute families of the freedom fighters and martyrs.
It is not only to save these families from economic crises but also from the onslaught of the comumunal, religion-fundamentalists that we appeal for help.
If, as we did in ’71, stand together, unitedily we can overcome the crisis we are facing under Khaleda-Nizami regime. The call for the unity of the secular democratic forces is to come together to resist our old enemy of the present day Bangladesh.
We must resist fundamentalist forces in Bangladesh in order to make those lives worth living for whom we have a country named Bangladesh.

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Dear journalist friends,
You are all well aware about the unprecedented communal torture, which have basically came into focus through the media. Different political, social, cultural & professional groups have staged daily protests. Everyday newspapers are publishing the horrors of this communal terrorism. But sadly, even after 10 days of assuming power Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s four party alliance government, there has been no mentionable improvement of the situation although, fighting terrorism as one of its two top election pledges.
The Nirmul Committee convened a roundtable meeting, which was participated by professionals & representatives of the civil society, on the Oct 9, 2001. After a long discussion all the participants expressed their deep concern over the ongoing communal attacks and two major decisions were taken : (i) Visit the affected areas immediately. (ii) Publish a white paper based on the testimonies given by the victims.
So far central and district leaders of the Nirmul Committee visited 15 worst affected districts and recorded more than hundred testimonies of the victims.
Nirmul Committee leaders accordingly yesterday (19 October 2001) visited different parts of Sirajganj district, about which newspapers have published very little compared to other areas.
“A silent terrorism is going on here,” one Hindu businessman of Sirajganj town said.
Intimidation, threats & extortion by terrorists have become a way of life there, but due to fear of being killed or further harassment; the victims refrained from reporting to the local police. No report to the police means a “normal situation” for the administration.
The Hindu community here has been subjected to communal threats by leaders and workers belonging to the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to celebrate Durga Puja properly or else they would be driven out from Bangladesh by force.
“This is the consequence of voting for the boat (Awami League’s election symbol),” has been the common line as these terrorists extorted huge amount of money from the Hindu families making them poppers. So far several hundred Hindu families left Bangladesh silently in the dark of the night, as they faced various types of threats and lost their family members, properties etc.
One horrific example of the consequences of reporting to the police is the story of 15-year old school girl Purnima Rani Sheel. On October 8 a group of 25/30 men attacked their home at night & kidnapped her, before she was gang-raped. Her mother Bashona Rani Sheel & father Anil Kumar Sheel were also mercilessly beaten, needing medical treatment. Another daughter was also beaten and harassed.
Purnima Rani Sheel was gang-raped for two hours, as her family lay unconscious. They have been pressured in many ways, even offered money, to settle the matter without reporting it to the police. But the incident could not be kept a secret as they wanted and the family was admitted to a hospital. Police accepted a case charging the terrorists, but refused to accept a rape case.
Local Nirmul Committee leader & journalist Aminul Islam Chowdhury took the initiative to take Purnima to the district hospital, where doctors certified she was raped.
The young girl also gave her testimony to the local magistrate and under section 164 of Penal Code on Oct 14, 2001. The magistrate ordered the arrest of 15 of the attackers she named, but so far only one by the name of Rauf has been arrested.
Following this the family had to flee their home in the face of serious threats from the terrorists and took shelter elsewhere. There too, the family is not safe. Police came and also men sent by local BNP MP M. Akbar Ali to withdraw the case or else face dire consequences.
Purnima in her testimony to the magistrate has said she knew some of the attackers, who belonged to the BNP.
On Oct. 19, 2001, some of us also recorded the family’s testimony on the incident. Today we are presenting this family in front of you to judge for yourself the situation they are faced with.
Our Home Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury has said newspapers are ‘exaggerating” such reports. According to him 80 to 90 percent of the newspaper reports were “untrue”. District correspondents of Dhaka based national dailies are being threatened.
The Prime Minister herself said in her national address that her four-party alliance got mandate from people of all faith and background. It was a mandate from the whole nation. If her comments are true, she has to explain why these barbaric attacks on the Hindu community. Everywhere Hindus are saying they have been targeted just because they voted for “boat” (Awami League). We did not find one Hindu in the country that pointed fingers at the Awami League for the attacks. BNP men have been named in the few cases filed with the police. Those arrested are also ‘cadres” of BNP.
The Prime Minister said not to divide the nation with labeling any side “minority” or “majority”. We also want to tell her that we too don’t want anybody to live with the label of ‘minority.’ In Bangladesh Muslim, Hindu, Christian & Buddhists are all Bengalee by National identity and by citizenship they are Bangladeshi. People of these faiths too do not want to live with such an identity.
It will not be easy to erase the word “minority” in describing these faiths because BNP and Jatiya Party is mainly responsible for creating differences amongst the Bengalees. Through the 5th Constitutional amendment BNP dropped “secularism” and “Bengalee nationalism” which was the basic principle of the republic and added “Bismillah ...” at the outset. Islam was declared the state religion under the 8th Constitutional amendment through which the non-Muslim citizens of Bangladesh virtually became “minority” & second class citizens. Despite the fact Hindus have always voted for all political parties, now they are marginal by all means and forced to leave their homeland, so that same quarters can convert Bangladesh into a monolithic Islamic country and also grab the land & other properties of the Hindu community.
We hope the government will take Purnima’s case and communal repression on Hindus seriously, instead of calling it “drama stage by a particular political party”. We also urge all political parties including the Awami League & NGOs to come forward in aid of these tortured people.*

Shahriar Kabir
Acting Present
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* More than 30 journalists and central leaders of the Nirmul Committee were present at the press conference. After Shahriar Kabir’s presentation, Bashana Rani Sheel mother of the rape victim narrated their horrifying experiences. Nirmul Committee & Faria Lara Foundation presented Taka 25,000.00 to Bashana Rani to meet their immediate need.

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