Widows of '71 still lament for spouses

11 December 2011, 18:00 PM

Bss, Sherpur

The tranquil remote village of Shohagpur at Nalitabari upazila turned into widows' village in a twinkle of eyes when 187 villagers were sacrificed on July 25 in 1971. Shohagpur, now known as Bidhaba Palli, had a sudden jolt on that fateful day as the Pakistani heinous occupation forces gunned down 187 innocent male villagers. While giving an eyewitness's account of that fateful day Kapuli Beoya, wife of martyred Siraj Ali, said, “I was so young when the Pakistani forces stormed into our house and opened fires targeting my husband who was in his twenties. I was alone in the house and was unable to bury the body of my husband.” “In the afternoon I saw some stray dogs were eating the flesh of my husband's body," she said in utter exasperation. Still the widows lament the tragic death of their martyred husbands, said Dilmoni Laksam, a tribal woman, who survived tears after the loss of her spouse in the tragic genocide. This great ballade of supreme sacrifices was unknown to the nation until early 90s when the country's media unearthed this and gave extensive coverage of it. While telling about their present conditions the widows informed that out of 187 widows only 34 are alive now. They said they are now getting financial help of Tk 1,600 per month-Tk 1000 from the Trust Bank, Tk 300 as widow or old age allowance and Tk 300 from the BRAC Bank. They had also received help from local lawmaker and Minister Begum Motia Chowdhury who gave them two goats each and other helps in cash and kinds. “The little help that we are getting now is out of pity, which we don't want. We want respectful support to eradicate poverty," said martyred Ibrahim's wife Hafiza Begum, who was then pregnant.