As the 40th anniversary of the 1971 war approaches, the Bangladeshi government has set up an International Crimes Tribunal to investigate the atrocities of that era. There has been a denial by "certain political groups" of the history of the war, and a failure to account for the crimes of sexual violence against women," said Sara Hossain to NY times, a human rights lawyer based in Dhaka. The director just admitted Mrs. Hossain thoughts. Director successfully failed to show the experiences of women — the independence fighters, the victims of rape, the widows — during the war and more importantly the violence, sexual assault they experienced rarely acknowledged in this movie. "As a young teenager in 1971, I had heard a lot about female university students, young village girls and women being raped and held captive, effectively forced into sexual slavery, in the military cantonment. But after the war, very soon, one heard nothing more," said Irene Khan, former secretary general of Amnesty International in NY times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/world/asia/25iht-letter.html) where as writer intentionally regret this fact. Bangladesh is only now grappling with war crimes — and with great difficulty, given the way the issue is mired in the politics of religious fundamentalist parties. The gender dimension of the atrocities is not fully acknowledged, nor is the huge contribution that women made to the liberation struggle as fighters and supporters in Meherjaan. "Rape in Bangladesh had hardly been restricted to beauty," Brownmiller writes. "Girls of eight and grandmothers of seventy-five had been sexually assaulted ... Pakistani soldiers had not only violated Bengali women on the spot; they abducted tens of hundreds and held them by force in their military barracks for nightly use." Some women may have been raped as many as eighty times in a night (Brownmiller, p. 83). How many died from this atrocious treatment, and how many more women were murdered as part of the generalized campaign of destruction and slaughter, can only be guessed at. These are the facts, history and proud of Bangladesh. By twisting all of these facts the director just slapped us and Bangladesh. Finally, I thanked Bangladesh govt. to ban this movie. I would not recommend to any people to watch it because they will learn the wrong history, facts of Bangladesh of 1971 and the unforgettable contribution what was done by our sister, mother and wife.
