Stories of sexual violence against women during the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh have remained untold so far. Yasmin Saikia, Professor of History and Hardt-Nickachos Chair in Peace Studies at Arizona State University, collected over 50 testimonies of women, previously unheard, who were victimised during the war.
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In 2001 I travelled to Bangladesh as part of my plan to educate myself on South Asia so that I could teach it better. Once in Dhaka, I decided to visit Dhaka University in memory of my father but instead I ended up in a place called ‘Camp Geneva’ where the “stranded, stateless Biharis” live. It was here that I first encountered a horrific and troublesome story told by two middle-aged women. They were young in 1971 but witnesses to the brutal murder of their families by local freedom fighters. The son of one of these women told me, “My parents will go to their graves without anyone knowing their story. Why must we suffer for the crimes of another generation?” This stunned me and made me aware of the negative power of history on people’s lives. (Yasmin Saikia)
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