13 women freedom fighters honoured

It was a terrible time--her motherland was attacked and thousands of women were facing extreme tortures. So the 19-year-old girl rose against the Pakistani army and went to the battlefield vowing to protect her motherland as well as herself.
The teenage girl who took arms in hands to liberate her homeland in 1971 is now a 50-year-old woman, Dr Nibedita Daspurkayasta. She was honoured yesterday for her contributions in the Liberation War.
Speaking at her reception programme, Dr Nibedita said, "Whenever a child is born, it has an obligation to its mother and motherland. It was that obligation and sprit that drove me into the Liberation War."
"At every instant, we faced dangers and thought it to be the last moment of my life," she recalled.
Hundreds of women, who fought the battle against the Pakistani army, went through similar experiences as Nibedita did during the nine-month war.
Jatiya Mohila Sangstha yesterday accorded reception to 13 of those women freedom fighters, two of them posthumously, in the capital's Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib auditorium on the occasion of Victory Day.
Addressing the function as chief guest, Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury called for publishing a book compiling the experiences of women freedom fighters, which, she said, would inspire the young generation.
State Minister for Women and Children Affair Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and Jatiya Maohila Sangstha Chairman Prof Momtaj Begum, among others, spoke on the occasion.
The other honoured freedom fighters are Nurunnahar Zahur (posthumous), Begum Amina Mansur (posthumous), Rawshan Ara Shiri, Shyamoli Nasrin Chowdhury, Nasibun Ahmed, Prof SM Anwara Begum, Sultana Ferdous Ara Khanam (Doly), Rekha Shah, Rasheda Islam Mahua, Sapna Dutta, Begum Fazilatunnesa, and Zobeda Khatun Parul MP.