Know about 1971 Bangladesh genocide, when Pak soldiers raped over 200,000 women

New Delhi: Hundreds of thousands of women were raped during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. These women are known as Birangonas.In Bengali, the word Birangona means “brave woman.” Because of the rape survivors, the word Birangona became synonymous with dishonored and violated woman as they were outcast by the society.Many of them were disowned by their family; others migrated to India to give birth, while many committed suicide or were murdered by the Pakistani forces. Those who survived bore the scars of the horrendous ordeal, both physical and psychological. They were casualties of war, who bore the seeds of evil in them. The genocide began on 26 March 1971 with the launch of Operation Searchlight,as West Pakistan began a military crackdown on the Eastern wing of the nation and lasted for nine months.All Bangladeshi women lived in fear for that period, every day, they hide from soldiers in the pond behind their house, while across the country, women were disappearing from streets and homes.The attacks were led by General Tikka Khan, who was given the name the “butcher of Bengal” by the Bengalis for his actions.At last Bangladesh emerged victorious from a gruesome war against Pakistan but Birangonas sufferings were something that they can't be recovered from.According to Bangladeshi freedom fighters, the Pakistani army raped over 200,000 women during the war.The women were tied to trees,gang raped and their breasts were hacked off.According to the reports Pakistan soldiers used to conduct nighttime raids and asaault women in front of their families, as part of the terror campaign.Despite the Pakistani government's attempts to censor news during the conflict, reports of atrocities filtered out, attracting international media and public attention, and drawing widespread outrage and criticism.Time magazine reported on 563 girls who had been kidnapped and held by the military; all of them were between three and five months pregnant when the military began to release them.In the year following the war, there was a Bangladeshi government-mandated victim relief programme, supported by the World Health Organization and International Planned Parenthood Federation.Doctors who were the part of Bangladeshi government relief camp claimed that these rapes caused almost 170,000 abortions, births of 30,000 war babies.They also claimed that the majority of the women who were raped had contracted venereal disease.After the war, they were expected to reconstruct families, while dealing with the scars of war but their suffering, both during and after the war remains unrecognized as Bangladesh has not given them any page describing their sufferings and bravery in the history books.