Birangana Marzina passes days amid pangs of economic hardships

JHENIDAH, Dec 19: Birangana (war heroine) Marzina, a rape survivor during the 1971 Bangladesh war for Independence, has been dragging her stigmatised life for over four decades without any governmental recognition or financial help.
Birangana, meaning 'war heroine', was a term coined by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Bangladesh's founding prime minister, as a way of acknowledging the wartime rape survivors' 'sacrifice' for the freedom of Bangladesh.
Birangana Marzina (58), wife of late Khalek Sheikh alias Pire Sheikh, has been living at Char Kalna village at No. 8 Lohagara union under Lohagara upazila of Narail district since 1998 after their house at Shankarpasha village under Kashiyani upazila in Gopalganj district was destroyed by Madhumati river erosion.
This war heroine's health has now started deteriorating but still she has to continue desperate struggle for livelihood even 42 years after the independence of the country.
When Marzina Begum narrated her experiences and various incidents of the Liberation War to this correspondent in emotion-chocked voice, tears rolled down from her eyes.
Marzina with her sister and parents Goni Mollah and Aleka Begum was growing up amid merriments having adolescent-like dreams at the age of 16 at Shankarpash village.
On an inauspicious day during the Liberation war, when a group of occupation forces from army camp at Bhatiyari village under Kashiyani upazila attacked and set homes and other establishments of the villagers on fire, Marzina with many others took shelter in the house of Rajjak Moulavi at the village to escape from the wild animals' wrath.  At around 2 pm three bulky-bodied Pak military members caught Marzina from the yard and dragged her into the kitchen of the house and after sexually violating her brutally left her unconscious and bleeding.
Marzina's mother Aleka (80) said that her daughter was tortured in such a way that she was about to die. It took a long time to bring her back to normal life, the wretched woman further said.
Marzina has been trying to forget all her sorrows all these long years by plunging into work at other people's house since her rickshaw-puller husband Pire Sheikh left her with three children and married another woman to live with her in Khulna.
When this correspondent enquired about other family members of Marzina Begum, she told about her octogenarian mother, two sons and one daughter. She has to feed her ailing mother while others live separately.
Lohagara UP chairman Badar Khandakar said he heard from a freedom fighter about Marzina's being raped by Pak military members and her collaboration with the local freedom fighters during the Liberation War.
Alhaj Mafizul Haque, Lohagara Muktijoddha Commander told this correspondent that Birangana Marzina Begum should have been enlisted as a Muktijoddha by this time. Her papers were sent to the concerned authority recently through the district commander for enlisting her name in the gazette of Mukktijoddhas.
While contacted, Rebeka Khan, UNO, Lohagara upazila told the FE that she heard everything about Margina Begum on 15 December. She invited her to the Victory Day programmes at Lohagara Mollah's field and assured her of writing a letter to Dhaka to enlist her name among the recognized Muktijoddhas, the UNO added.