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..Date:
Mon, 13 Oct 2003 04:44:46 -0700 (PDT)
From: Drishtipat Team
Subject: Bangla Mayer Beer Meyera - A Campaign for
the women of 1971 by Drishtipat and its partners
To: uttorshuri@yahoogroups.com, drishtipat@yahoogroups.com
Ameerjan is now known as Ameerjan Bewa. Bewa means
"bidhoba" or widow. Ameerjan is one of the
thousands of women who made supreme sacrifice in our
liberation war but is now living under extreme poverty.
We know about the sacrifices of Jahanra Imam but we
don't know much about the Ameerjan Bewas.
Ameerjan's fighter son Idris Ali died in 1971 while
doing a guerilla attack for our liberation war. Ameerjan
also was one of many million refugees trying to cross
over to India. While she was trying to cross the Bhogai
river, the Pakistani soldiers started to fire indiscriminately
at the innocent refugees. One bullet hit Ameerjan's
husband head who died right away. Her infant daughter
was on the shoulder of her father. Bullet pierced
through her head as well. Her younger son was at the
lap of her elder daughter. Another killer bullet hit
her chest and brushed off the younger son. The elder
daughter died after a few minutes.
One would expect that people like Ameerjan, who made
supreme sacrifices for this war by loosing her three
children and her husband, would get full recognition
and compensation by the State. However, it is not
the case. Ameerjan today struggles to find two meals
a day. When she returned from India after the war,
she found all her properties burnt down by the Pak
army. She had to sell off all her lands to raise the
remaining three children. As you read this email,
Ameerjan most likely haven't had a meal all day. There
are thousands of Ameerjans in Bangladesh today.
One of the greatest shortcomings in the perception
of our fight for Independence is our consistent failure
to recognize the role of such women in our Liberation
War. In fact, the role of women is largely ignored,
denied and misconstrued in our mainstream history.
Outside physical fighting and exchange of gunshots,
our liberation war has been a struggle through which
a united nation has asserted its aspiration for freedom.
Such wars are not fought only in the battlefields
with guns. War heroes include those women who have
supported the valiant freedom fighters with food,
shelter, funds; who have nursed the wounded and hid
weapons risking their own lives. They also include
those who have willingly given their sons to war,
who have lost their loved ones and even worse been
subjected to sexual abuse and still survived to tell
their stories.
Drishtipat, with the help of Ain O Shalish Kendro,
has identified seven such women who made supreme sacrifices
in the war of liberation of Bangladesh, but are in
desperate need of financial assistance to live their
lives with dignity. It is bad enough that they never
got justice for the barbaric crime against them. But
it is unacceptable to any conscientious human being
to see them lead a life of indignity and extreme poverty.
Please stop by at the website we have prepared after
a lot of hard work to honor these brave women (website
for women of 71). Listen to their stories and
make a difference to the lives of Najma, Halima, Fatema,
Rokeya, Jolekha, Ameerjaan and Shohorbanu –
our unsung heroes of the war. Your donation will go
to the liberation war museum which in turn will give
the money on a trust fund for a prosperous future
for these women.
Please stop by at the website we have prepared after
a lot of hard work to honor these brave women (website
for women of 71). Listen to their
stories and make
a difference to the lives of Najma, Halima, Fatema,
Rokeya, Jolekha, Ameerjaan and Shohorbanu –
our unsung heroes of the war. Your donation will go
to the liberation war museum which in turn will give
the money on a trust fund for a prosperous future
for these women.
http://1971.drishtipat.org
You can donate
by credit card or you can mail the check to
Drishtipat
106 Haley House Lane
Apex NC 27605
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