Husband’s
Name: Altaf Chowdhury
(Killed by Pakistan army in 1971)
Vill: Prankrishnapur, P.O.: Otimara
P.S.: Nwababganj, Dist: Dinajpur
Education:
Illiterate
Age in 1971:
30 yrs
Occupation:
Housewife
Present
Occupation: Housewife
Q. Do you remember anything about 1971?
A. Yes, I
do. There was a war in the country. The Khans
killed thousands of people of our country.
Q. Did the Pakistani soldiers attack your village?
A. Yes, they did.
Q. When did the Pakistani Army attack your village?
A. Some of
the men were called out of their homes and killed, houses were burnt down, women were raped. There was no way of fighting them. In every
direction Pakistani soldiers took position and no one could escape from their
hold. They grabbed the women and raped them. All the men were taken away and
killed, not even one was spared. After the Khans
left we returned to the village and found all of them killed. And as soon as we
returned to the village the Khans
returned and we ran away. My three brothers were killed. My eldest nephew and
my eldest son were killed. All the men were assembled in one place and shot.
Q. When you
went to collect the dead bodies, did the Pak soldiers come back and chase you?
A. Yes, they
came back and chased us.
Q. What did
you do then?
A. I again ran away in some direction which I do not remember to-day.
When I returned I saw all of them were already dead. My husband begged for some
water but I couldn’t give him a drop to drink. Within a split second the Khans were back and I ran again. When I
returned I found my husband dead.
Q.
How many members of your family were killed by the Pakistani soldiers?
A.
Two of them, my husband and my son.
Q.
Did the Khans return to your
village?
A.
Oh yes, many more times, and so much of scandals and running around all
over again and again. We had to abandon our cooking pans and run for life. We
couldn’t have our food. They did a lot of torture, unthinkable in our area. My
brother gave the Khans milk, chicken,
calves, fruits and so many other things but they didn’t spare us. They killed
everyone, raped women. My whole life has been doomed.
Q.
You gave the Khans chicken,
milk, cows, calves and goats?
A.
Yes, yes. We gave them everything to save our lives. They killed my
son, even after what we did for them, They killed us.
My brother gave them pail full of milk enough for so many of them and even then
they killed all of us.
Q. Did the Pakistani soldiers repress the women?
A. Yes,
they did. They caught all the women and took them to our house and many other
houses and in the nooks and corners and raped us again and again. And then they
set fire to the houses. The whole village was on fire. They treated us with
indescribable cruelty, very cruel indeed.
Q. Did the Khans shoot and
kill any woman?
A. Yes, they killed two of them.
A. One of them was Soyna and the other was Salu. They were weeping in my room before they were killed.
Q. And then what did you do?
A. After the Khans left we
cried. The dead bodies were removed by the villagers and buried.We
couldn’t wash the dead bodies. I was almost unconscious; I lost three brothers,
my eldest son, a nephew and my husband. They were all mercilessly killed by the
Pak soldiers. Each of them was buried
at a different spot.
Q.
And then what happened?
A.
I stayed here.
Q.
Didn’t the Khans visit the
village again?
A.
What do you mean? They came several times. We ran away for shelter.
Interviewer: Amarchand Gupta Apu
Date of
Interview: November 04, 1996
Translator: Dr. Faruq Aziz Khan