Yesterday was the 43rd Sohagpur Massacre Day, the day the Pakistani occupation forces cracked down on the inhabitants of Sohagpur village in Nalitabari upazila, brutally killing 187 innocent men and children, back in 1971.
After independence, the village was renamed Bidhaba Polli (the village of widows) for the 34 widows, who are still alive, though their husbands and children are all gone. Now, all they want is to see the trials of the war criminals and to support themselves financially.
The village is located 35 kilometres from Sherpur district town. When it was attacked in 1971, there were no freedom fighters there, though they were all stationed in every house in the adjacent Baruajani village. The denizens of Sohagpur never thought they would be attacked but their assumption proved wrong when Pakistani soldiers teamed up with local razakars and surrounded the village from three sides. They brutally shot and killed 187 people.
When the soldiers left the village, the women covered the bodies with mosquito nets, sarees and banana leaves.
In 1996, for the first time since the Liberation War, the then agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury provided the villagers with aid from her own funds. Each woman was given two goats, a saree, rice and lentil. Assisted by Brac, they were also given Tk1,200 as lifetime allowance.
All allowance and aid, however, were cancelled for unknown reasons when the four-party alliance government assumed power.
During the caretaker government's term, the joint forces and the district administration jointly initiated three projects involving power tiller, mushroom farming and afforestation, but no progress could be made due to a lack of proper supervision.
On December 4, 2011, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman, assisted by Matia, distributed allowances among 61 widows and martyrs' families.
With the assistance of Trust Bank, 37 widows were given Tk1,000 as lifetime allowance and 24 martyrs' families received Tk1,000 for five years. Apart from this, all of them were given Tk7,000 as one-time aid, a winter shawl and a solar charger light.
The widows had lived relatively good lives during the caretaker government's tenure because of the projects that they initiated.
This year, they have called on the local administration and the government to resume and ensure proper supervision of those projects as they seek financial independence and the freedom to rebuild their lives.
