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A book titled 'War and Women' depicting war crimes during the Bangladesh Liberation War was released during the 52nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Friday.
The book written by Dr MA Hasan documents the magnitude of sexual harassment, torture and killings committed by the Pakistan Army during the 1971 Liberation War. Dr Hasan, in a video presentation from Dhaka, shared the reality of such abuse committed by Pakistani soldiers. The event was joined by freedom fighters of the Liberation War and executive members from International NGOs. Tazul Islam, the minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives for the Bangladesh Awami Party also participated in the book launch. He spoke about the significance of the book, which was a testimony of Bengali women being subjected to atrocities and sexual abuse by the Pakistan Army during the 1971 war. Speaking about the theme of the book and the war that affected Bangladesh women, he said, "Book is based on what happened during the war of 1971, especially women - what they really faced, kind of abuse, torture they faced; even small kids, under-aged girls were raped in many places. That was well-planned and many lecturers said here that some of the military high commands in Dhaka asked - How many today were raped?" Islam said that this means it was a planned genocide, and torture of Bangladesh, adding that this book has written top-to-bottom data -- what happened daily from March 26, 1971 till the day Bangladesh became independent. This was termed Genocide by Tazul Islam and he urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to take punitive action against Pakistan. "Based on the facts and figures, the one who planned it had to be condemned, be tried for international war crimes," said Islam. In a message to common Bangladeshis, he said, "We would like to say that sovereignty has been achieved by the lives of three million peoples and 200,000 women. It was achieved in a hard way. Bangladesh people have to learn -- how to sustain it for a long time. Achieving something and sustaining it are two different things." He also lauded Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for bringing 2 crore Bangladeshis out of poverty. "The current leadership has raised Bangladesh from poverty to a middle-income country. I think that's the message -- if someone tries, he can get out of the problem and Bangladesh under the leadership of PM Sheikh Hasina brought about 2 cr of people out of the poverty level, that's a good achievement. There has been enormous change in Bangladesh with the same people, engineers, pilots, doctors, professors...that is the leadership," said Islam. (ANI)
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