A resilient spirit, unrecognised
Monowara Begum does not know her exact date of birth. All she can recall is that she was a seventh-grader during the Liberation War.
Born in Badla village in Barishal's Babuganj upazila, her father passed away when she was still a child. "My mother Jobeda Khatun took responsibility of me and married another man," said Monowara, who's likely in her mid sixties at present.
But just as things were falling in place, in came the Liberation War.
"All of a sudden, we started hearing the Pakistan military could arrive any day. My grandmother Mayjan Bibi used to assure us, saying the military can't cross the river."
She said she can't recall the date for sure, but it was monsoon, sometime around June or July, when they decided to go to Charkaua village on the banks of the Kirtankhola for safety.
However, Monowara and her grandmother appeared at a burning Charkaua village. The military had already arrived, rampaging the village. Many villagers were shot dead on the banks of Kirtankhola on that day.
"We got scared and ran to Nawab Ali Bepari's residence, but it was burnt down too. My grandmother asked me to leave at once and hide behind a tree," she said.
Monowara added, "I was spotted by a military man, who pulled me by my hair and took me to their gunboat. I saw a couple of women and girls were being held hostage there. They took all of us to the fourth grade quarters of the medical college at Chadmar area [in Barishal city]."
Not even in her worst nightmare could Monowara have predicted what lay in store for her. "It was as if hell came down on our lives," she told this correspondent.
Along with the group of captive girls, Monowara was taken to the Pakistan military's mini-cantonment in the city's Wapda area. For the remainder of their stay there, till December, they were subjected to horrific violence and rape.
They were tortured till late night, sometimes four to five military men bearing down on them. "Even when I fell sick, they wouldn't stop the brutality. We weren't even fed properly. Sometimes they would come in, throw food at us, and leave," Monowara said.
The mini-cantonment and its torture cell played host to numerous killings, at least eight to 10 per day, according to Monowara. Gunfire at night would frighten the captives, who weren't allowed to wear sarees or scarves to prevent suicide.
"One day they brought over a woman and asked her 'Mukti kaha?' (where are the freedom fighters?). As she kept mum, one of the soldiers stood over her body, charged with a bayonet, and started beating her up, until she was dead." They later threw the body in a canal, Monowara recalled.
"I could not see the sky until the country was liberated."
"One day, we found out that all the military men were gone. We found the torture cell unlocked and stepped out," she continued. "But before reaching the freedom fighters, I lost consciousness and fell down on the field."
Monowara discovered herself at Barishal General Hospital. While being treated, doctors told her that her genitals had to be operated on.
After returning to Badla, Monowara's stepfather refused to let her stay with them. With no home, fresh off of one tragedy, she soon found herself in another.
"A stranger offered me a place to stay, but turned out he was a fraud who sold me off to a brothel in Bagerhat," Monowara said.
After a year there, she was sold off to another brothel at Khulna's Fultala, before finding herself at another in Faridpur.
She stayed there till the late 90's, until meeting a police personnel stationed at the brothel, who helped her break out of the brothel. They later got married and now have a daughter.
But even after all this suffering, Monowara Begum is yet to get recognition as a Birangana, despite applying for it at the Liberation War affairs ministry.
"It is too difficult for me to describe my pain. If the government understood it and recognised me, I would get some solace," she said.
Mohiuddin Manik, a former deputy commander of Barishal Muktijoddha Sangsad, said they hoped Monowara's application will be granted soon.
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