Silenced

Many stories of rape and female genital mutilation are emerging from the gates of BDR Rifles Square. Unfortunately, these stories and cases are fast spreading behind the scenes. The victims, many of them young, recently married, first-time mothers are not only traumatized by the whole ordeal but also extremely fearful of the stigma placed upon them if they dare give their accounts. As a result, many of these gang-rape crimes will go unrecorded and the perpetrators will never be fully punished for their actions. Many people say that the stigma of being a raped victim, and thereby a dishonoured woman, in addition to a murdered husband and with small children, will effectively impede these females from proceeding with their lives intact. Socially, they will always be closely identified with this tragedy. Socially they will be treated as pariahs for being raped victims. A fresh new life will be immensely difficult for them. Thus, they choose silence.

These women are opting to swallow being raped so that they can retain their identities.

Just as many rape cases conducted by Pakistani militia against Bengali women during the Liberation War of 1971 were unaccounted for and unrecorded, the BDR Massacre has effectively scarred, destroyed, and ruined the lives of the young widows and the national conscience. How can we simply let them silently consume their loss and their humiliation while we stand aside too shamed to offer them an empathetic hand?