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Monday, March 14, 2011

[ALOCHONA] Jail term over, but Bangla nationals still behind bars



Jail term over, but Bangla nationals still behind bars
 
 

Over a thousand Bangladesh nationals are detained in various jails across West Bengal even though their conviction period is over.

A Public Interest Litigation filed this week by MASUM, the human rights organisation, sought the intervention of the Calcutta High Court for their release and deportation.

In the petition, MASUM said foreign nationals lodged in jail after the expiry of the conviction period should be deported immediately. The detention of a person in jail thereafter was in violation of Supreme Court orders and a declaration by the United Nations. The Centre and the state government have failed to understand their responsibilities and the people have been deprived of their fundamental rights, the petition alleged.

According to a government document, 1,076 Bangladesh nationals, whose jail terms are over, are still lodged in various jails. The document cited particular examples where Bangladesh nationals have been confined in jail even though their conviction period was over in 2008 and 2009. There are 1,721 Bangladesh undertrials in jail, the documents said.

The petition sought an order to direct the Centre and the state government to produce the records of prisoners lodged in jail even after the expiry of their detention periods.

The High Court should direct the Centre and the state government to identify all those eligible for release. The petition urged the High Court to pass an order for the release of those prisoners detained illegally in jails.

The petition also urged the High Court to direct the Central government and state government to expedite the process of deportation of the foreign national lodged in jail whose conviction period was already over. The case is likely to come up for hearing next Friday. Biswanath Chaudhury, the jail minister, said the department was aware of the issue and has taken various steps to resolve this problem. "But I should not say anything more now, as the election has already been declared," he said.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Jail-term-over--but-Bangla-nationals-still-behind-bars/762046/



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[ALOCHONA] Bangabandhu Killing :Zia passively involved



Bangabandhu Killing :Zia passively involved
 
Lifschultz tells HC, submits written statement on Taher killing
 



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[ALOCHONA] Return of Sarmila Bose



Return of Sarmila Bose
 
ABM Nasir
 
 Sarmila Bose, a denier of rape committed by Pakistani military and an apologist for Pakistani atrocities in East Pakistan in 1971, returns with (perhaps with more distortions) her new book ''Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War'' scheduled to be discussed at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC, on March 15, 2011. Around 2005-06, she was widely rebutted for her distorted views on the Liberation War in an article "Anatomy of Violence: Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971" published in the Oct 8, 2005 issue of the Economic and Political Weekly. (i)

In the article, while Sarmila Bose rightly pointed out that "there has been little systematic study of the violent conflicts during the nine-month long civil war," she and others (see, e.g. Bose, 2005; and Mohaiemen, 2008) (ii), so-called 'self-righteous' truth seekers appear to be filling the vacuum in rewriting, revising, and, even, twisting the history of Liberation War on their own volition, based largely on selective references, reports published by Pakistan government in 1971, and the eye-witness accounts of the Pakistani military officials.

For example, both Bose and Mohaiemen termed the 1971 crisis in East Pakistan as 'civil war' although the 1971 crisis is most commonly referred to in Bangladesh as either Liberation War (or Mukti Juddho) or Independence War (Shadinota Juddho). The use of the term 'civil war' in reference to 1971 in East Pakistan is an attempt to "deflect the attention from its genocidal connotation" as argued by Mookherjee (2006) in a rebuttal to Sarmila Bose's article (iii). Indeed, instead of referring to such analyses as being "a systematic analysis of the context and nature of violence in the conflict of 1971," as Sarmila Bose claimed, one must reject such articles as systematic attempt to discount the severity of the brutal assault of Pakistani military on Bengali people.

THE ARGUMENTS

In her article, she claimed that (a) "The civil war was not merely between the two wings of Pakistan, but also within the territory of East Pakistan, between Bengalis and non-Bengalis, and Bengalis themselves, who were bitterly divided between those who favoured independence for Bangladesh and those who supported the unity and integrity of Pakistan," (b) the atrocity in East Pakistan was provoked by the resistance of Bengali nationalists, (c) violence committed by both sides with Bengalis attacking Biharis at the beginning of the war, provoking Pakistani military and Bihari reprisals followed by Bengali retribution against Biharis toward the end of the war and afterwards, and (d) no evidence of rape of Bengali women by Pakistani Military could be found.

Her prevarication reflected in her: constant and deliberate attempt to depict Pakistani military officials as compassionate individuals, apparently, to deflect the severity of genocide committed by Pakistani military on the Bengali populace; heavy emphasis on Bengali atrocities on Biharis; deliberate and frequent use of the word 'male' to discount the violence against women; use of the phrase "collective punishment" to justify mass killings of Pakistani atrocities; frequently terming the 'freedom fighters' as 'Bengali nationalist rebels' to deflect attention from the broader historical, cultural, social, political, and economic context of West Pakistani discrimination behind the Liberation War; and, the use of specific example based on selective references, reports published by West Pakistani regime, and interviews of former Pakistani military commanders to deny the broader perspective of the West Pakistani military atrocities.

The review of only one study, by Beachler (2007), containing an objective analysis of the Liberation War, would expose her distorted views and undoubtedly prompt one to throw the 16-page contorted analysis of the Liberation War into the historical recycle bin. (iv)

WHY DENY?

Sarmila Bose's views of the Liberation War remind the author of the denials by a group of academia of the major genocides in world history including the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide. In "Why deniers deny?", Charny, a leading scholar on Genocide studies, wrote in 2001, that "… deniers are not necessarily rabid anti-some people, like anti-Semites and haters of Armenians, but may more simply be out for their personal gain, economic advantage, or even more simply career advantage — research grants imply a combination both of financial resources as well as opportunities to engage in research in desired settings." (v)1

In another article, Charny and Fromer (1990, 1998) presented five "conceptual characteristics of 'innocent denial'." Among the five, one referred to as 'Innocence-and-Self-Righteousness' appears to fit the profile of Sarmila Bose. According to this feature of denial, "The respondents claim that they only intend to ascertain the truth. Moreover, they do not believe that human beings could have been so evil as the descriptions of the genocide imply (as reflected in Sarmila Bose's defence for Pakistani military officials). Furthermore, even if many deaths took place a long time ago, it is important to put them aside now and forgive and forget (similarly, Sarmila Bose proposed, in the last sentence of her article, "efforts towards reconciliation, rather than the recrimination that has so far been its hallmark .").(vi)

Sarmila Bose derives her credibility from her being affiliated with multitudes of renowned organisations, being a Hindu of Indian origin, and being a Harvard graduate. However, her apparent objectivity, true intentions, and wisdom are exposed in her passionate defence for Pakistani cause reflected in a co-authored article published in 'Christian Science Monitor' on April 11, 2005(vii). In the article, not only did she defend the US sale of F-16 to Pakistan, but she also referred to Pakistan as a stable Muslim democracy and praised former military ruler General Musharraf as a moderniser.

———————————————-

Dr. ABM Nasir is an Associate Professor of Economics at the North Carolina Central University, USA.

(i) Bose, Sarmila (2005). "Anatomy of Violence: Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971." EPW, October 8.

(ii)  Mohaiemen, Naeem (2008). "Accelerated Media and the 1971 Civil War in Bangladesh," EPW, January 26.

(iii)  Mookherjee, Nayanika  (2006). "Skewing the history of rape in 1971 A prescription for reconciliation?" EPW, Vol. 41 No 36: 3901-3903.

(iv)  Beachler, Donald (2007). "The politics of genocide scholarship: the case of Bangladesh," Patterns of Prejudice (2007). Beachler also indicated that "No book-length study of the genocide in Bangladesh has been published in the United States; essays about it have appeared in some collections on genocide not in others." Beachler also referred to only one article "Atrocities against humanity during the liberation war in Bangladesh" by Akmam, Wadratul (2002) appeared in the Journal of Genocide Research.

(v)  Charny, Israel W. (2001). "The Psychological Satisfaction of Denials of the Holocaust or Other Genocides by Non-Extremists or Bigots, and Even by Known Scholars," The IDEA Journal, July 17.

(vi)  Charny, Israel W. and Fromer, Daphna (1998). "Denying the Armenian Genocide: Patterns of thinking as defence-mechanisms," Patterns of Prejudice, 39-49.

(vii)  Milam, William B. and Sarmila Bose (2005). "The right stuff: F-16s to Pakistan is wise decision." Christian Science Monitor, April 11.

http://opinion.bdnews24.com/2011/03/14/return-of-sarmila-bose/



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[ALOCHONA] Fwd: Transit: Equipment from India arrives



------ Forwarded message ----------

From: Zoglul Husain <zoglul@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 5:48 AM
Subject: RE: Transit: Equipment from India arrives

We are totally opposed to transit/corridor agreement with India under the present circumstances. Roads constructed for these purposes will almost certainly be used for India's military purposes, which may even be from the very first consignment of smaller items, scheduled from 20 March. (Please see: ODC shipment begins March 20 http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=2&id=189840). This is not only a security risk, it is occupation of our infrastructure, an attempt to subjugate us, which may also drag us between warring parties.  
 
I don't know if there would be demos, barricades, etc., but the govt is making a grievous betrayal of the country. They know we were denied transit from/to Nepal, Bhutan, etc. They know the problems between the two countries have not been resolved. The very serious problems of river water, border killings, smuggling in India's favour, enclaves, trade policies, conspiracy and hegemony, military and security, etc., etc. are in the way of developing friendly relations between the two countries. The govt is still behaving like lackeys mesmerised under the spell of a hegemonic power.
 
It's all an utter betrayal of national interest and sovereignty. We condemn the govt on Hasina's MoU's with India, in which our national interests have been sold out and our sovereignty surrendered. We must unite to resist these.    
 

Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2011 11:05:20 +0600
Subject: Equipment from India arrives
From: bdmailer@gmail.com

Equipment from India arrives
 
Road route not ready yet to take those to power plant site
 
 
Vessels carrying heavy equipment for a power plant in Agartala of India arrive at the Ashuganj river port in Brahmanbaria. The transshipment of the equipment was agreed upon during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's last visit to India.
 
Two ships carrying eight heavy equipment for the proposed Palatana Power Plant in Indian state of Tripura have arrived at Ashuganj River Port from Kolkata. The equipment will be transshipped to the Tripura's state capital Agartala by Ashuganj-Akhaura road.
 
However, the transit will take some time, as the road and the terminal at Ashuganj port require some repair work to carry such heavy equipment, said Subon Kumar Sheel, supervisor of an Indian hydraulic excel trailer. Md Jahangir Alam, executive engineer of Brahmanbaria Roads and Highways, said 70 percent of the development work of Ashuganj-Akhaura road is complete. The work of finishing a diversion road is going on.
 
The two ships carrying the equipment reached the Ashuganj port on Wednesday and Saturday.Over 100 heavy equipment of power plant will be transported to Agartala from West Bengal through Ashuganj-Akhaura road. They will be first brought to Ashuganj by ships from Khidirpur of India. Ten 130-wheeler Indian hydraulic excel trailers, each having capacity to lift 400 tonnes at a time, will carry the equipment from Ashuganj port to Agartala under Indian supervision.
 
The transit will start after the deputy commissioner (DC) and the superintendent of police of Brahmanbaria visit the port along with the Akhaura Land Port customs officer, Indian sources said. Contacted, Brahmanbaria DC Md Abdul Mannan said an Indian team met him and informed him about the arrival of the ships at Ashuganj port, but he is yet to get any official order for their transit.
 
Foundation of the 4,500 crore rupee Palatana Power Plant was laid back in 2005 but a major roadblock had been the transport of heavy equipment from Kolkata to Tripura. The problem was solved when Bangladesh agreed to allow transshipment through an Indo-Bangla accord during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January last year.
 



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[ALOCHONA] Japan's disaster and our own



              
             Read this scary article about Japan's nuclear reactor meltdown ... and all other nuclear energy bullshit!
 
 

<< Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called "SQ" or "Seismic Qualification." That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from al-Qaeda.

 

The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from "failed" to "passed."

 

The company that put in the false safety report? Stone & Webster, now the nuclear unit of Shaw Construction, which will work with TEPCO to build the Texas plant. Lord help us.

 

There's more. >>

 
http://www.truth-out.org/tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-bs-info-japans-disastrous-nuclear-operators68457


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[ALOCHONA] Re: [notun_bangladesh] Re: Sarmila Bose’s “Research” Exposed by Mashuqur Rahman



Friends


It is fact absolutely correct that presently Bangladesh is listening Awami history of the liberation in their own way since they intentionally fabricated the truth and forcefully propagating the untruth with the vicious connivance of the K.Jibis(the Hidu staaaan concubines), the twin brother Muti/Mahfuz and other RAW agents in guise of Oikko/Projonmo/Pokkhkho etc etc.
In the history book that BAL professes shows that none other than their leader and family/relations/and party cadres are credited for the war of liberation wherein the role of Mukti bahini was not reflected/credited. They exposed the Mujib bahini created by RAW to take over control after liberation.This is open secret that the hidu staaan who claims to have done everything to untie us from Pakistan that they also felt threatened from the undaunted spirit of selfless sacrifice of the valiant "Mukti Jodhdhas".

BAL to keep it's grip on power resorted to lies after lies about everything including the beginning stage of opposition by the Bangladeshis(then E.Pakistanis) from the dawn of Pakistan in 1947.The historic 21st February n violation of Section 144 portraying as led by their leaders  as their heroes n others as none but onlookers.They kept up their vicious attempt to distort and fabricate history and make the new generation confused about the real history and force them to believe the blatant lies as facts. 

But they have forgotten that truth can never be suppressed for long since it has it's own force and eventually surfaces with it's righteousness to disgrace the congenital lier and that is happening now.
Truth will surely reign supreme over untruth and throw the detractors into the bin of history.

Faruque Alamgir




On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 12:47 PM, abid bahar <abid.bahar@gmail.com> wrote:
 

People's Freedom Struggle vs the AL Confusion Continues
Abid Bahar

"Bangladesh's freedom struggle continues" is a line repeated by Mawlana Bhasani one of the great leaders of Bangladesh. True, the life of an emerging nation or an independent nation is as if like the continued survival of the fittest among other nations because to keep a nation sovereign, freedom struggle continues.

1971 war vs the cold war
------------------------------------
Often some people blinded by emotion think it is a one time issue, not in dynamic terms.From this perspective we call the 1971 struggle as the war against Pakistan.Now we truly have a cold war going on with India which is closing rivers one after another, using its puppets in Bangladesh it is building its infrastructure within Bangladesh by Bangladesh's 1 billion borrowed money, fencing the border with its Brahmin Wall and killing our people while we facilitate them transit.

Pakistani razakars vs Indian razakars
------------------------------------------------------
 During the 1971 war we had Pakistan as the agressor and there were the razakars. Now that we have war going on with India, the collaborators like Hasina, Razzak, Faroque, Moinul, Suranjit becomes the prominant Indian razakars. That the devoted AL leaders/ members tend to excuse India for killing and raping our women. The death tool from the new aggression by the BSF is now a thousand and continues to go up. These Indian razakars speak loudly only when it comes to the Pakistani atrocities. True, some AL freedom fighters lack this true spirit of the freedom fighter, Helal Uddin wrote that both Pakistani and now Indian aggressors are condemnable. It seems to me a result of a generation gap. He further wrote: "Your generation saw Pakistan as oppressor and you spoke loud about it as that was the right thing to do. Our generation is seeing India as the oppressor, and we are speaking about it. I do not have any hurt feeling towards the Indian people but the Indian authority who is humiliating us periodically."

Muji's own Confusion Continues in the AL
-----------------------------------------------------------
The confusion is also due to a difference between made in Awami League history of Bangladesh vs. made in scholars' history of Bangladesh. The further remifications are in those areas: (a) AL claim of death in 1971 has been 3 million and the others including historians local and foreign claim is that it is from three hundred thousand to maximun one million.This discripency is a result of the lack of any survey done on it. In some cases according to the Bihari claims that some Bihari dead bodies were shown as Bengali genocide dead bodies.

It is unfortunate that like many confusions Sheikh Mujibur Rahman created (a) for not declaring the independence  due to his signiture in the LFD (b) staying the entire liberation war time in Pakistan, and (c)after his return to put Bangladesh in the world map as the bottomless basket case (d) perhaps he was not good at mathematics or intellectually not so bright to say "three lac as three million", but AL found him as the father of the nation and the best Bengali in thousand years.

People's History vs. the AL history
-------------------------------------------------
In all these the source of contradictions is not  methodological, nor of memory but it has been due to the fascist tendency in the Awami League's hero-worshipping, based on propaganda devoted to make its own ownership history about Mujib and Bangladesh; In the end Bangladesh has the AL's Bangladesh history of how they owned it but the unfortunate Bangladesh does not have its own people's history about the freedom struggle of 1971.


On Sun, Mar 13, 2011 at 12:13 AM, Syed_Aslam3 <syed.aslam3@gmail.com> wrote:

Sarmila Bose's "Research" Exposed

[Hat tip to Robin Khundkar]

Recently I wrote about Sarmila Bose's apologia for the Pakistan army that was published last September in Economic and Political Weekly. In this week's issue of EPW, two critical comments were published that take to task Ms. Bose's "research". The first comment is from Mr. Akhtaruzzaman Mandal, a freedom fighter whose first-person account of finding Bengali rape victims being held by Pakistani soldiers was disputed by Ms. Bose. The second comment is from Dr. Nayanika Mookherjee, lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University. Ms. Bose had cited one of Dr. Mookherjee's articles to try to cast doubt on the rapes committed by the Pakistan army in their campaign of genocide in 1971.

Mr. Mandal exposes Ms. Bose's "research" with the authority of one who has lived history. Below are some excerpts from Mr. Mandal's comment:

Since Bose knew nothing about this humble freedom fighter and the pride we all bear, she could casually describe me as a muktijoddha accompanying the Indian army. Such description also served her purpose, as she tried to portray me as someone who had no prior knowledge about the land and people of Bhurungamari/Nageshwari, about their suffering and destitution. As guerrilla fighters we were active in the region all through monitoring the day to day developments. We were like the fish in the water, as the saying goes. That is why in my book, not known to Bose, I have also written about few other specific cases of how women had to suffer. But that is another story, quite a long one, let me concentrate here on the accusation made by Bose.  

While doing her "research", Bose never tried to contact me. On the other hand her search for truth took her to Pakistan and she interviewed Lt Col Saleem Zia of 8 Punjab who was stationed in that area and cross-checked my information with this partisan source of hers. Quoting my account Bose writes, "According to Mandal, Bhurungamari seemed like a ghost town. He claims 60 East Pakistan Civil Armed Force (EPCAF) members and 30-40 Pakistani soldiers were captured รข€" they had run out of ammunition. He also claims that 40-50 Pakistani soldiers were killed in this battle." Then quoting her Pakistani source she writes, "Brigadier Zia found 30 injured men, who were evacuated, and 36 able-bodied ones. The rest were dead or dispersed and four or five, by his estimate, were captured." The anomaly in the description provided by members from two contending side is not new in any battle account. It is the researcher's job to dig for the truth. But according to our researcher here Akhtaruzzaman Mandal "claims" whereas brigadier Zia "found" and that shows where she is standing as a dispassionate independent scholar. Even in her account about the number of deaths she has not said anything about the EPCAF, who were raw recruits from the villages of West Pakistan and were put into forward position to work as a shield to the Pakistan army.

Now let us take the case of captain Ataullah Khan, the human devil. Bose has been successful in collecting laudable quotes about Ataullah and in her attempt to whitewash the devil's deeds made a jugglery of the location of Bhurungamari and Nageswari depicting them as two sites completely separated from each other. She writes, "According to this fellow (Pakistani) officer, Captain Ataullah had not been in Bhurungamari before and he was based at Nageswari. He had barely got there when he faced the Indian attack." Her research or lack of research has led her to greatly differentiate between Nageswari and Bhurungamari and if only she was interested to know more she could have found out that the distance between the two place is only 15 km and at that time, even with a ferry crossing, it took only 30 minutes for a commanding officer to cover the distance by his jeep. The Pakistani captain being based at Nageswari was a frequent visitor to the forward position at Bhurungamari and he was no stranger there.

Bose never asked any woman, any common man of Nageswari and Bhurungamari, about Ataullah Khan but quoted her Pakistani source at length and writes, "This fellow officer of 25 Punjab described (not claimed: AM) Captain Ataullah as a six-foot plus Pathan officer known for being 'humane'. He further stated that he saw people in Nageswari weep upon hearing the Ataullah's death. According to him, when the Pakistanis were POW's in India after the war, a senior Indian officer had expressed his respect, soldier-to-soldier, to the officers of 25 Punjab and mentioned by name Ataullah, who had become a 'shaheed' (martyr)." In the footnote Bose mentions that, "this inclusion of evidence from the Indian side in the future would be of great value in assessing this and many other aspect of 1971 war". I am happy that she noted the importance of the Indian source which she never tried to use and would request her to look for members of 6 Mountain Division with whom we fought side by side. After 36 long years I cannot remember all of them or their full names, but how can I forget Major General Thappa, Brigadier Josie, Major Chatowal Singh, Captain Shambu, Captain Mitra, Captain Bannerje, Major Bala Reddy, as well as fellow fighters from the 78 Battalion of the BSF and others. Instead of interviewing only the perpetrators of genocide, rape and crimes against humanity she should also try to get evidences from the Indian side.  

As Bose has gathered most of her information from highly dubious one-sided Pakistani sources following atrocious and unbelievable lines, "The picture painted of captain Ataullah by his fellow officer, who knew him, completely contradicts the one given by Mandal, who appears to have only seen his dead body. Clearly, if captain Ataullah had been based in Nageswari and only gone up to Bhurungamari the day the Indian attack started, he could not have been responsible for whatever might have been going on in Bhurungamari. Mandal offers no corroborating evidence for his character assassination of an officer who had died defending his country, and therefore, cannot speak in his own defence."

As a freedom fighter operating in the area we came to know about many of the atrocious acts of Ataullah and this human-devil was not unknown to us. Our informers also brought many news and on that auspicious day we knew very well about the bunker he took shelter in and that is why the Indian army could pinpoint their artillery attack. I have seen his dead body at the bunker and could immediately know that this was the man who brought so much suffering to our people, to the poor civilians and villagers of the area. Ataullah Khan was no soldier defending his country, he was part of a killing machine, doing heinous acts against an unarmed civil population which no professional soldier can ever think of. Such acts can in no way be equated with defending one's country. In that case all the Nazi war criminals will get acquitted as they were "defending" their own country.  

[Read the entire article here]

Dr. Mookherjee, in her comment, discusses Ms. Bose's flawed methodology and bias. Below are some excerpts:

To any student of social science methodology and memory studies, the article reveals how the pursuit of "facts" alone disallows any analytical, sociological, historical and interpretative perspective. That it was published in EPW is a surprise indeed.

It is not clear from the article the extent of the research in Bangladesh, how many survivors the author met, particularly women, what was her position towards these women, i e, her reflexive position. It is clear that she talked to Pakistani military authorities and accepts everything they say to be true but considers all Bangladeshi accounts as predominantly fabricated.

The article accepts every account of Pakistani military authorities as truth while that of Bangladeshis as false and "shrill cries". Particularly if the accounts are of "illiterate" Bangladeshis they can only be false รข€" so the space for any "subalterns" is clearly absent, while those within the military paraphernalia provide legitimate authoritative accounts according to the author. Particularly the role of Bangladeshi women either as witnesses or as raped: like the sweeper Rabeya Khatoon or the sculptor Firdousy Priyobhashini is always of suspect to Bose. Also while mentioning the Hamdoodur Rehman commission of the Pakistani government the author does not mention the instances of rapes and the role of General Niazi as cited in the document.

The article cites the case of Ferdousy Priyobhashini who as a single woman had to look after her widowed mother and young siblings and continued to work during the war and becomes the focus of sexual violence by various Pakistani officers as well as Bengali collaborators.

The article interrogates Priyobhashini's account questioning why she stayed back during the war and whether her rape was as a result of coercion or a voluntary sexual act by stating that she "willingly fraternised". By that argument is the article suggesting that Priyobhashini brought the rape upon her since she stayed back? This is extremely problematic and parallels the biases within various rape laws which seem to suggest that women must have brought the rape upon them in different instances.  

By this argument the sociologically nuanced analysis of how single women and their sexuality are always suspect, is never addressed and instead Priyobhashini's experience is highlighted by the derisive comment that she "makes much of her threats". The complexity of war time violence and the various threatening compulsive situations is well articulated in the work of Cynthia Enloe, Veena Das, Urvashi Butalia, Ritu Menon and Kamla Bhasin. Primo Levi's work on the holocaust also shows the complex negotiations made by survivors.

The article also states the account of Champa from one of my articles [Mookherjee 2003] and tries to infer that no rapes happened during the Bangladesh war. My article was exploring how the trauma of rape is understood in independent Bangladesh and in the process I explore how scholars of memory make sense of the process of forgetting. The nuanced arguments I make about Champa is hinged on long-term fieldwork, cross-checking of hospital files and documents and finding the social workers who found her and brought her to the hospital. These are the "evidences" of Champa's war-time violent encounter of rape. I have also worked with and written about other women who encountered rape during the Bangladesh war. This was done by means of over a year's fieldwork as well as cross-checking interviews, and examining archival, official documents, etc.

[Read the entire article here]

Related: Research on Bangladesh War by Akhtaruzzaman Mondol

http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/11334.pdf

 

 

Link: http://www.docstrangelove.com/2007/12/20/sarmila-boses-research-exposed/

© 2007 Mashuqur Rahman | Category: Bangladesh, Bangladesh Liberation War | 16 comments | 3,908 views | Subscribe to the comments of this post
 
 




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[ALOCHONA] Dish TV:Cultural aggression



Dish TV:Cultural aggression



http://www.sonarbangladesh.com/article.php?ID=5088


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