War criminals used 'rape' as a tool to break social resistance
Liberation War researcher and daughter of an independence martyr Professor Meghna Guhathakurta on Saturday demanded exposure of the 1971 rapists saying they had targeted the women to destroy the social resistance using "rape" as a tool, reports BSS.
"The main characteristic of the Bangladesh's Liberation War was that it was not mere a war between armed soldiers, rather it was a peoples' war against professional soldiers where the entire society was involved," a former international relations professor Meghna told BSS on Saturday.
She said the perpetrators of crimes against humanity in 1971, visibly tried to frustrate the resistance weakening the peoples' moral through rapes alongside fulfilling their bestial desires.
"The exposure of rape nearly destroys a woman's life in our society and rape in a massive scale destroys the society itself, which was an objective of those who had tried to foil the independence," said Meghna, who is the daughter of 1971 martyr Professor Jyotirmay Guhathakurta.
She said even if enough evidence was not available to prove beyond doubt the allegation of the suspected rapists, they could be unmasked through "restorative justice".
"There are two types of justice system - one is 'retributive justice' where someone is exposed to trial with proven evidence and handed down the punishment while another is 'restorative justice' when at least the truth could be upheld even without a specific evidence against the suspect," she said.
For Meghna Guhathakurta, whose father was murdered by the Pak Army when she was only fifteen, her freedom is something that she guards with her life and something that she will never give up at any cost.| War criminals used "rape" as a tool to destroy social resistance: Guhathakurta |
 "The main characteristic of the Bangladesh's Liberation War was that it was not mere a war between armed soldiers, rather it was a peoples' war against professional soldiers where the entire society was involved," a former international relations professor Meghna told BSS today. She said the perpetrators of crimes against humanity in 1971, visibly tried to frustrate the resistance weakening the peoples' moral through rapes alongside fulfilling their bestial desires. "The exposure of rape nearly destroys a woman's life in our society and rape in a massive scale destroys the society itself, which was an objective of those who had tried to foil the independence," said Meghna, who is the daughter of 1971 martyr Professor Jyotirmay Guhathakurta. She said even if enough evidence was not available to prove beyond doubt the allegation of the suspected rapists, they could be unmasked through "restorative justice". "There are two types of justice system - one is 'retributive justice' where someone is exposed to trial with proven evidence and handed down the punishment while another is 'restorative justice' when at least the truth could be upheld even without a specific evidence against the suspect," she said. Under the "restorative justice", she said, it could be known who was involved in atrocities or crimes like rapes siding with the Pakistani troops during the Liberation War. "It may appear difficult to find a precise proof against someone who had raped our women nearly forty years ago, but they could be identified as a rapist . . . we will get back to the real history," Meghna said. She said the international conventions pinpointed "rape" as a war crime, which could underpin the trial of the 1971 rapists at the Special Tribunal set up to expose to justice the perpetrators of crimes against humanity during the Liberation War. Asked for comments about the Meghna's demand for the exposure of the 1971 rapists to justice, a senior member of the special prosecution panel to assist the Tribunal, Advocate Syed Rezaur Rahman said "rape" was one of the major offences to be tried in the special court. "A special investigation agency is gathering evidence against the suspects and the progress is encouraging. We expect the 1971 criminals including the suspected rapists to be brought to justice," he said. Officially two lakh women were tortured while 30 lakh people lost their lives in the hands of Pakistani troops and their collaborators. |
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