Nijhum Dwip people still living a medieval life
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
A Correspondent
NOAKHALI, Nov 2: The people of Nijhum Dwip under the upazila of Hatiya in Noakhali district have been passing an unnatural and isolated life beset with problems like dowry, divorce, polygamy, malnutrition, malaria and many other diseases.
Especially the women of this tract of land are bereft of all amenities of life as they are not getting any facilities either from the government or any non-government organisation.
As the secluded sea queen lies on the southern side at the actuary of the Bay of Bengal, at least seventy miles away from the main town Maijdee, it remains neglected uncared for by the authorities, if any.
This detached Dwip is like a capsized boat around which there are waters and waters with it floating in the middle of the bay like a buoy.
However, there are more than twenty thousand men and women on this isle with woman folk predominating. But it is a matter of regret that the women here are passing a miserable life without any human facilities. The condition or this region paints a picture as if it is not an integral part of Bangladesh.
Inhabitants of Nijhum Dwip allege that they do not get any aid from the government that reaches Hatiya and they only have to remain expecting for the same.
Here there is virtually no management for education, communication, electricity, government grant etc. and no strict law is in force against early marriage, polygamy, dowry, women and child repression and so on.
An outsider who might experience the custom and culture of Nijhum Dwip will hardly believe that there is any governance here for the womenfolk and will find that it is an area which is still in the mediaeval age. The women living in Nijhum Dwip are nearly always subjected to torture at cruel hands of their male counterparts on least excuses. They cannot but endure everything silently.
Almost all the males keep more than one woman with them like gypsy clans and torture them at their whims. Every year in the season of fishing and harvesting of paddy in Hatiya and Nijhum Dwip a lot of day labourers come here from outside districts for work and they marry adolescent girls taking advantage of their parents' destitution.
It is alleged that a section of match markers do the so called nuptial activities among the people with no marriage registration and thus violating all rules and regulations of the country.
The lewd husbands, after physical relation with the innocent girls and giving birth to children, abandon them and go to other places and marry there in the same way. But no action can be taken against them as they give all fake information to the in laws as there is on marriage registration here.
Consequently the deserted or divorced women have to pass pitiable life with their0 offsprings. They can neither stay in their parents' families nor can get married again and virtually have to beg from door to door or adopt any undesired means to keep them going.
One Shahin Akhtar, mother of six children told this correspondent that she lost her little amount of assets is paying dowry to her daughter's husband but yet she could not appease his hunger of endowment and he divorced her daughter to marry elsewhere.
Another woman of Guchchya Gram expressed her grievance that her six month pregnant daughter's husband divorced her inflicting serve torture on her only for Taka 10,000.
The women of Nijhum Dwip or their hubbies are not aware of birth control. They or their spouses do not adopt family panning measure and in the long run every wife has to give birth to at least 6 to 8 children for which the mothers or their issues die premature deaths.
Again, there is no government or NGO health set-up at Nijhum Dwip. As a result patients have to be taken to Hatiya, Maijdee or other remote places for treatment.
NOAKHALI, Nov 2: The people of Nijhum Dwip under the upazila of Hatiya in Noakhali district have been passing an unnatural and isolated life beset with problems like dowry, divorce, polygamy, malnutrition, malaria and many other diseases.
Especially the women of this tract of land are bereft of all amenities of life as they are not getting any facilities either from the government or any non-government organisation.
As the secluded sea queen lies on the southern side at the actuary of the Bay of Bengal, at least seventy miles away from the main town Maijdee, it remains neglected uncared for by the authorities, if any.
This detached Dwip is like a capsized boat around which there are waters and waters with it floating in the middle of the bay like a buoy.
However, there are more than twenty thousand men and women on this isle with woman folk predominating. But it is a matter of regret that the women here are passing a miserable life without any human facilities. The condition or this region paints a picture as if it is not an integral part of Bangladesh.
Inhabitants of Nijhum Dwip allege that they do not get any aid from the government that reaches Hatiya and they only have to remain expecting for the same.
Here there is virtually no management for education, communication, electricity, government grant etc. and no strict law is in force against early marriage, polygamy, dowry, women and child repression and so on.
An outsider who might experience the custom and culture of Nijhum Dwip will hardly believe that there is any governance here for the womenfolk and will find that it is an area which is still in the mediaeval age. The women living in Nijhum Dwip are nearly always subjected to torture at cruel hands of their male counterparts on least excuses. They cannot but endure everything silently.
Almost all the males keep more than one woman with them like gypsy clans and torture them at their whims. Every year in the season of fishing and harvesting of paddy in Hatiya and Nijhum Dwip a lot of day labourers come here from outside districts for work and they marry adolescent girls taking advantage of their parents' destitution.
It is alleged that a section of match markers do the so called nuptial activities among the people with no marriage registration and thus violating all rules and regulations of the country.
The lewd husbands, after physical relation with the innocent girls and giving birth to children, abandon them and go to other places and marry there in the same way. But no action can be taken against them as they give all fake information to the in laws as there is on marriage registration here.
Consequently the deserted or divorced women have to pass pitiable life with their0 offsprings. They can neither stay in their parents' families nor can get married again and virtually have to beg from door to door or adopt any undesired means to keep them going.
One Shahin Akhtar, mother of six children told this correspondent that she lost her little amount of assets is paying dowry to her daughter's husband but yet she could not appease his hunger of endowment and he divorced her daughter to marry elsewhere.
Another woman of Guchchya Gram expressed her grievance that her six month pregnant daughter's husband divorced her inflicting serve torture on her only for Taka 10,000.
The women of Nijhum Dwip or their hubbies are not aware of birth control. They or their spouses do not adopt family panning measure and in the long run every wife has to give birth to at least 6 to 8 children for which the mothers or their issues die premature deaths.
Again, there is no government or NGO health set-up at Nijhum Dwip. As a result patients have to be taken to Hatiya, Maijdee or other remote places for treatment.