In 1971, she was a 17-year-old pregnant mother who was carrying a six-month-old foetus in her womb. Her husband had gone to India for getting trained up to take part in the Liberation War.
The then al-Badr leader ATM Azharul Islam and three other Pakistani soldiers did not spare her. They chased and then raped her by turn in a house near her in-laws’.
That was not all; they took her to a camp of the Pakistan army set up at the Rangpur Town Hall. They kept her confined there for 18 days and raped and tortured her everyday; eventually she suffered a miscarriage and nearly bled to death in the process.
On the 19th day, when her physical condition deteriorated, they got her out of there, fearing that she could die any time.
More than four decades later, on December 26, 2013, she gave her deposition behind closed doors before an International Crimes Tribunal in the war crimes case against Jamaat leader ATM Azharul Islam.
While pronouncing death sentence against the Jamaat leader yesterday, the first International Crimes Tribunal referred to her using her initials – MK.
MK is now 60 years old and living in her husband at Kachna Takiapara village in Rangpur district. Her husband Md Mostafa Mia narrated the story of the rape before the court on March 3, 2014.
The Birangana told the court: “There was a factory of the Ramna Cigarette Company south of hour homestead. A Biahri security guard used to work there. Somehow he came to know that my husband was not at home.
“It was 7th or 8th of Bhadra [fifth month of Bangla calender, spanning September and October]. Between 8pm-9pm, two cars laden with Pakistani soldiers, rajakar and al-Badr men, guided by that Bihari, arrived west of our homestead and fired three blank rounds. Scared people fled after hearing the gunshots.
“I was inside the house. My father-in-law was sitting on the yard outside. They surrounded our house and started beating my father-in-law. I was trembling in fear.
“I ran towards Rahman’s house. When I looked back and saw three Pakistani soldiers and one Bangali in pursuit. Rahman’s house was empty because everyone had fled and the door was open. I entered the house and they followed my trail.
“I cried, held their hands and caught their legs, begging them not to rape me. I told them time and time again that I was six-months pregnant. Ignoring my request, they raped me by turns on a bed in the house. I fell unconscious.
“The Pakistani soldiers ordered the Bangali saying ‘ATM Azahar, take her with us.’ Then I came to know the name of the Bangali,” MK told the tribunal.
Then the Pakistani soldiers and Azhar took her back home. Her father-in-law was lying on the yard; he looked dead. They said there was a bomb inside their house and started torturing her. They asked where her husband was.
“One rajakar hit me on the hip with a stick. I can still fill that pain,” the Birangona described. When she did not reply, they ransaked their house. “They vandalised the house and looted five gold amulets 1,600 taka.
“They got me up on a vehicle and took me to the [Rangpur] town hall. I saw another seen to eight women there. They did not allow the women to talk among themselves. They raped me and the other women regularly,” she said.
MK used to see Azhar at the town hall regularly. He used to go there to talk to the Pakistani soldiers. Sometime he went out with the Pakistanis and returned with young men and beautiful women.
“They tortured the boys physically by hanging them and raped the women,” she told the court.
She now carries a disease in her uterus that she got after being gang raped by the Pakistani soldiers and the collaborators.
“On the 18th day, something happened to the baby in my womb and I was bleeding incessantly. Seeing this, two Bangali razakars told the Pakistanis that it was time to sent me back to the house, or else I could die any time. They were also saying that if I died in my house then my husband would come and they would be able to catch him.
“On the 19th day, they got me out of the town hall. I came home on a rickshaw. I found my father-in-law was very ill. Around 10-12 days later, he died,” MK said.
Her husband Mostafa, who was a paddy trader during the Liberation War, said in his deposition: “My wife was two months pregnant when I went to India to take training for the Liberation War. I gave her 1,600 taka and told her to live with my aging parents...When I returned from the war, my wife told me the entire story.
“The Pakistani soldiers did not know me or my father. They also did not know my house. ATM Azhar and Mostak [The Bihari security guard] guided them and showed them my house. They killed my father and raped my wife. I want justice,” he told court while bursting into tears.
Yesterday the three-member International Crimes Tribunal 1, led by Justice Enayetur Rahim, sentenced Azhar to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment for this crime.
He was also sentenced to death for some of the other crimes against humanity that he had committed during the 1971 Liberation War.
The tribunal found him guilty on five out of the six charges. The assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami – a party that has also committed war crimes as an organisation in 1971 – was given capital punishment for three charges that included murder and genocide. He was given five years rigorous imprisonment in another charge.
