World's most titled aristocrat, Spain's Duchess of Alba, dies

Spaniards are mourning the loss of the Duchess of Alba, one of the country's richest women. The eccentric aristocrat had the world record for the most titles held. 

The duchess, full name Maria del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, passed away on Thursday at the age of 88. According to a family spokesperson, she died at her Duenas Palace in the southern Spanish city of Seville surrounded by family members following a short illness.
While her principle title was Duchess of Alba de Tormes, a complex series of marriages by her ancestors meant that she held more than 40 other titles, which according to Guinness World Records made her the noble with the most officially recognized titles in the world.
"She was born in high society yet knew how to walk among the people like nobody else," Fermin Urbiola, who knew the duchess personally and wrote several books on European royals, told the AFP news agency.The duchess was a relative of Winston Churchill and played with English royals when she lived in London during her childhood.

The duchess' coffin was brought to the town hall in Seville

Outspoken and unconventional
Cayetana, as she was known in Spain, featured regularly in the Spanish celebrity press and was easily recognizable due to her outspoken nature, distinctive hair and colorful dress sense.
She made international headlines in 2011 when, at the age of 85, she married a man a quarter-century her junior and danced flamenco at their wedding.
Her marriage to Alfonso Diez was objected to by her children, but before the nuptuals Diez renounced any claim to the duchess' vast wealth. A few months before the ceremony, the duchess divided up most of her estate amongst her heirs.
The Duchess of Alba has previously been twice-widowed. Her 1947 wedding to Luis Martinez de Irujo y Artacoz was described as one of the costliest in Spain. Following the 1972 death of her first husband, she married a former Jesuit priest, Jesus Aguirre, in 1978. He died in 2001.
The Duchess of Alba had properties across mainland Spain and on some of its islands and it was said she could travel the length of the country without stepping off her land.
She was named a Favored Daughter of the Andalusia region in 2006, raising the ire of a group of local farm workers who felt she did not deserve the honor.She is survived by her six children.DW

Women’s Empowerment in Bangladesh: Looking beyond the MDG’s

Published: Monday, March 4, 2013

NEAL WALKER.

We have achieved major milestones, but much remains to be done, states NEAL WALKER.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) are coming to an end in 2015.  With the deadline fast approaching, countries are taking stock of their achievements to-date and working hard to ensure the next set of goals reflect core requirements of sustainability and equity. Inclusive and equitable growth1 cannot happen without taking into consideration the role of women — half of the world’s population — who are also economically and socially most vulnerable. It is crucial that the post-Millennium Development Goals, beyond 2015 (the “Sustainable Development Goals” or SDG’s) include, as a core component, women’s empowerment and gender equality.2

Bangladesh is an interesting country-case where major milestones have been achieved in women’s empowerment and gender equality, particularly in achieving parity in primary education. Yet, much remains to be done. For instance, over 60% of all women continue to face at least one form of violence during their lifespan. By looking at the country specifics, we are able to critically question how representative the MDGs are of the ground realities facing women in developing countries, and Bangladesh in particular. Why is it that Bangladesh has done well on gender-specific targets but the gender aggregates still show poorly?  The complexities that plague gender parity in Bangladesh exemplify the global challenge as well: the discussion on how to ensure the SDGs effectively address gender needs to start right now.

The Bangladesh Case
Bangladesh has always had a history of women’s emancipation since the days of Begum Rokeya to women’s active role in the war of independence and through today’s Shahbagh movement.  Strong administrative and legal structures,3 coupled with an active civil society have been the foundation for women’s movements, for the establishment of rights and the delivery of pro-women services. The country was also one of the earlier signatories of the Convention of Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).4

Nationally, the Government of Bangladesh took up the ‘education for all’ campaign with a strong focus on girl children’s education.  The stipend programmes for girl children at first in the primary level and then for secondary and higher secondary levels are considered a global best practice that achieved dramatic results in gender parity of education.5

Also important, over the past four decades, the government has implemented targeted social safety net programmes with strong focus on vulnerable women and their families (Morshed, 2009).  The conditional cash transfers ensured girls’ education especially through specific interventions such as food for work in the Vulnerable Group Development (VGD) programme.6

One of the major milestones in Bangladesh’s history in women’s empowerment was the enactment of the Local Government (Union Parishad) Second Amendment Act in 1997 that provided for direct elections to reserved seats for women in local level elections.

The 6th Five Year Plan (2011-2015) of Bangladesh which is the national medium term development plan committed to transforming Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2021, considers women’s engagement in political and economic activities as a cross-cutting issue with women’s empowerment as one of the main drivers of transformation (SFYP 2011-2015).  The 6th Five Year Plan coincides with the ending of the MDGs which provides the basis for stock taking on the country’s situation so far.

Looking at the SFYP on Bangladesh specific situation with the MDGs, the table shows that Bangladesh has achieved gender parity in primary education (Goal 2, Target 1 and Goal 3, Target 1) yet it continues to experience a sharp drop in the number of women entering tertiary education (Goal 3, Target 3.1c).  Women’s employment in non-agricultural sector is currently around 25% whereas the target is 50%.  In another instance, while Bangladesh had done remarkably well in reducing maternal mortality rate by 40% in the last nine years (Maternal Mortality Rate/MMR -194 in 100,000 live births) and is on track for the MDGs of a 75% reduction from 1990-2015, only 24% of all births are attended by skilled health professionals.7 It will be harder to bring down the figure further, without a more comprehensive approach to the problem of maternal mortality. The Gender Inequality Index is also reflective of these continuing challenges which ranked Bangladesh 112 out of 146 in 2011 index in the Human Development Report 2011.8

Based on the indicators, it is important to further explore why Bangladesh, an early achiever and doing very well on certain gender empowerment targets, is now moving at slower pace in critical growth triggering targets such as labour market participation and women’s education in tertiary sector.  Why is it that with strong pro-women laws and policies, a comparatively small portion of Bangladeshi women is joining local/national politics?

Educate a woman, educate a nation
Looking at the snapshot of the various South Asian countries and their gender-parity achievements, Bangladesh has done significantly better in comparison to its neighbours.

Bangladesh was the first country in South Asia to achieve gender-parity in primary education. Achieving this milestone is a result of effective public policy, resource allocation and strong commitment from public and non-government sectors.

Yet, education has not been the ‘magic bullet’ we have long depended on to create a level playing field for women in the developing world.  As we see in the case of Bangladesh, social stigmas, gender-based violence and institutional barriers to entering higher education institutions and labour market constraints are holding women back from continuing with their education.

Through our various programmatic interventions as well as established literature, we hear accounts of “just enough” education for girls needed for the marriage market. Girls can be pulled out of school by secondary education for the fear of being “too educated” for prospective grooms (Amin and Huq, 2008). Sexual harassments of girl children on their way to school or at school are serious barriers to access to education.  In recent times, the alarming number of suicides committed by young girls shook the nation, questioning the safety and security of girls attending school and colleges.

Once in school, girl children are seen to miss out on school days because of lack of adequate toilet facilities. Very few activities are available to girl children in schools. Several NGOs are setting up youth clubs, creating spaces for especially for adolescent girls to take part in extra-curricular activities but these are located in specific target areas and not available to the full youth population of Bangladesh. In general, while government and other stakeholders have done an excellent job in getting girls to go to school, we have not created women/girl friendly schools and communities that would encourage and retain girls in school.

With the sharp decline in girls in secondary and tertiary education, we see a significant gap in the work force when comparing men and women and their employment opportunities and patterns.  While the country is heavily dependent on women’s participation in the ready-made garments (RMG) sector and majority of the micro-financing is going to women, the range of occupations available to women remains limited and gender stereotyped. The majority of urban poor women are engaged in the informal sector without basic healthcare or even earning minimum wage.  Rural women continue to support their families in agro-and/or non-agro productions that are usually deemed “fitting” by their spouses and families.  The next set of international goals therefore, would need to take into account of the non-economic factors that determine girl children’s access to education and women’s (limited) choices in the workforce.

Saving every mother
The number of trained birth attendees and access to health facilities has increased significantly in Bangladesh with major reductions in maternal mortality. But we know that much of this achievement is because of non-medical interventions such as programmes of awareness for adolescent and women’s health at the grassroots. Access to better food and nutrients have also contributed to the decrease in maternal and infant mortality.

But a vast majority of mothers in Bangladesh are in fact below 18 years of age.  Early marriage is intricately connected to issues of safety and security for women and is still widely practised in Bangladesh both in urban and rural areas.  Strict laws forbid daughters to be married before the age of 18 but in the absence of birth certificates, girls are married off as early as 14-15 and become first-time mothers by the time they are 16-17.  Many young women understand their bodies and ailments for the first time through their pregnancies.  There is very little space for women to share their health concerns with either doctors or within their families which results in further complications.  There is a social issue of ‘modesty’ on the part of Bangladeshi women to talk to doctors, especially male physicians.  There is a serious demand for female doctors especially in the rural areas where women have little to no access to healthcare.

MDG 5 — Improved Maternal Health — does take into consideration the non-medical factors that determine the accessibility of healthcare for women in the developing world but it falls short by acting as a proxy for women’s access to healthcare in general.  Not all medical problems that women face are gynecological in nature.  Lower calorie and nutrient intakes of girl children and women due to certain household norms and practices lead to various health concerns that may or may not be related to maternal health.  Healthcare and services for women therefore must be looked at from a broader spectrum in the coming years, where women are given the space to freely share their health concerns and receive the proper care.  While restricting any discussion on women’s health to maternal health was important for a certain goal, in the post-MDG era, we must be able to address health care for women in a more comprehensive, well-being approach.

Women’s rights are human rights
As mentioned earlier, women’s participation in local level elections was perhaps one of the greatest milestones for Bangladesh.  We find a new generation of women elected officials who are now respected and seen as figures of authority in their local areas. Experiences of various programmes and projects show that level of corruption is generally lower in areas that have female local representatives.  Many of the grassroots challenges that women and children face are coming up in national conversations and policymaking process because of female representatives at the Union and Upazila levels.

In the last general election, out of the 69 female members of parliament (MPs), 50 were appointed through reserved seats and 19 directly elected, including the Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition.  While it is imperative to ensure reserved seats for women in the national parliament, female MPs have voiced their concerns on the lack of election financing and overall party support.9 We find similar stories of work place discrimination from female officers, holding various posts in the government.  The rising number of female officers in the public sector is highly encouraging but lack of institutional support for their career development leads to demotivation, early retirement and delayed appointments to decision-making positions.

It is a general misconception that with the rise of women’s representation in public offices, there will be women’s empowerment for both the female representatives/officers and citizens.  There is a clear need for more women in public offices but without orientation on gender parity and the roles and responsibilities of each and every representative and officers at both local and national levels, women’s empowerment will be difficult to achieve and sustain in the long run.

On the flip side, while it is imperative for female (and male) representatives to know their roles and responsibilities as public figures, it is equally important for women in Bangladesh to be well versed in their rights as citizens to demand legitimate services from their political representatives.  Bangladeshi women are avid participants at national voting but often shy away from engaging in public and political debates, allowing their husbands to represent their concerns.  In this way, women remain separated from the public dialogues and the policymaking process, resulting in gender blind national laws and policies, and in many instances, is discriminatory against women.

In short, women’s political participation is at the crux of their rights as citizens and must be encouraged in the larger governance process of the country.

Beyond MDGs
Gender equality is a fundamental human right. It is also the most practical and effective means to move the country forward, towards middle income status, towards inclusive and sustainable development. There is much for the world to learn from the experiences of Bangladesh.  The visible changes in women’s political and economic participation throughout the country are proof of government commitment and to people’s aspiration to a more equitable society.  The grassroots efforts have enriched not only the local development agenda, but contribute to cultural achievements as well. At the crossroads of a new global approach to development, we have the opportunity to engender the goals we set, the targets we want to achieve, the changes we want to experience for a more equitable and equal world. I am looking forward to hearing a strong Bangladeshi voice on these issues, in the global debate to define the post 2015 world we all aspire to.

***

1.Equitable growth that takes into account of inclusiveness, is a concept that encompasses equity, equality of opportunity, and protection in market and employment transitions (Growth Report, Commission on Growth and Development, 2008)
2.This article draws from paper presented by Kwak, S. and Siddiqui, S.Beyond 2015: MDGs, Gender and Education in Bangladesh, International Conference on Gender Equity in Education: Challenging Issues and New Vision, Seoul University, June 2012
3.Strong formal structures do not necessarily mean strong government – Bangladesh has strong institutions but weak government system
4.Bangladesh became a signatory to the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1984.
5.Chitrakar, R., Overcoming Barriers to Girls’ Education in South Asia: Deepening the Analysis, UNICEF 2009
6.http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/liaison_offices/wfp190321.pdf (30 May, 2012)
7.MDG Progress Report, 2011
8.Explanatory Note on 2011 HDR Composite Indices: Human Development Report 2011 – Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future For All – Country: Bangladesh.

http://hdrstats.undp.org/images/explanations/BGD.pdf

9.The Role of Female Members of Parliament in Ensure Good Governance, Key Note Paper, Transparency International Bangladesh, March 2009

Neal Walker is United Nations Resident Coordinator for Bangladesh.

Last Modified: 602 days ago

Najma:The Woman who faught Back

Often self-inflicted wounds are the toughest to recover from. This is the story of one courageous woman who suffered in silence, fell to the depths and turned her life around.

Najma gasped for air, desperately fighting against the crushing weight of the pillow pressed down by someone who she had dedicated her life to: her husband.

No one heard the muffled cries for help, her hands and legs which had been kicking frantically, stopped struggling after a while.

Najma’s husband, Zahid, released his weight from the pillow and checked his wife’s wrist for a pulse, satisfied, he left the room.

But he had left too soon and perhaps, also, underestimated his wife’s will to survive.

Najma regained her consciousness, dazed but fully aware that she had survived another murder attempt. This wasn’t the first time he had attempted to kill her. Just days before this incident, Zahid had poisoned her food.

It wasn’t until she had vomited several times and was taken to a nearby hospital by a neighbour, that she realised what had happened. As doctors pumped her system clean and gave her the details of the contaminant, she lay on the hospital bed contemplating how to escape the endless torture.

“Because of the poison my chin dropped completely and it took months for me to recover,” said 43-year-old Najma while pointing to her face in an old picture.

She had started seeking counseling, and even taken a neighbour in confidence. But there was no clear way out of her misery. Although laws exist, victims of domestic violence rarely get legal protection in Pakistan. Some of the victims do not approach the authorities because of societal taboos attached with such issues.

Najma shows a picture of herself before her burns. -Photo by Muhammad Umar

“My husband said he could not believe how I managed to stay alive even after these attempts. Then, he tried to psychologically push me to the extent that I would take my own life.”

Najma was married to her cousin Zahid Iqbal at the age of 12 after her father's death. In the first few months with her husband, she realised that Zahid was unwilling to support her, both financially and emotionally. She became wary of the little care and love her husband showed her and went into depression. In the absence of an emotional and moral support, Najma sought comfort in her younger sister.

"We were eight siblings and I was closest to the younger one, our bond grew even stronger after my father's death so much so that after my marriage, I took her in with me.”

Her sister was there to fill the emotional gap, but the question about how the house would run without any finances was left unanswered. Zahid started forcing her to look for work, beating her when she returned empty-handed.

Najma ventured out in the streets of Kharadar looking for any kind of work that would make her a few rupees. After weeks of toil, she found a wholesaler in Lee market who gave her the task of making tassels.

"I earned Rs 15 for making a dozen tassels. I was desperate for work so I was ready to do anything," she recalls.

In this time period, Najma gave birth to seven children; two of whom died due to malnutrition and one because of cancer. With the deaths of her children, Najma clung on to her work, toiling day and night to make enough money to feed her children.

But in the midst of fulfilling her roles as a mother, wife, and the family's sole breadwinner, Najma did not suspect what was happening in her own household until one day she was locked up in her room by her husband.

This was the day she had decided to tell him she was expecting their eighth child.

“My husband locked me up in the bedroom with my children. He and my sister, Musarrat, were both together outside the whole night,” she said recounting the day she finally realised her husband and sister's true intentions .

“The next day Zahid said he was going to marry my sister too. My baby sister whom I had loved dearly. He wanted to keep us both in the same house.”

What followed was a series of heated arguments, often ending with Najma bruised and beaten. The news of the possible marriage quickly spread through the Lyari neighbourhood. A few concerned neighbours tried in vain to intervene in the matter.

“The elders in the neighbours approached Zahid and told him it was not possible to marry both sisters, even Islam does not permit it. But he denied everything to them, saying he considered Musarrat to his own sister,” said Najma, recalling how things went from bad to worse.

“When I realised what he wanted, I decided to send my sister back to my mother’s place but he was enraged. He would not let that happen. My mother was alive and yet she didn’t help in any way to save my marriage. It was as if everyone had plotted against me.”

Zahid knew he couldn’t marry Mussarat while Najma was still alive; he sought murder as the only option. The two murder attempts soon followed, yet Najma survived and lived on for the sake of her children.

She didn’t think of separation as an option, with the fear of living with the stigma of divorce for the rest of her life and having nowhere else to go.

Tempers had risen, frustration and helplessness was evident in all members of the household and then came the breaking point.

Najma shows her burns. -Photo by Muhammad Umar

Falling down

Najma’s body was bruised from the endless beating. When the screams for help faded, a newborn baby’s cries issued from the bedroom, but Najma was oblivious to it. A six-year-old boy sat huddled with his three siblings in the corner, staring at their mother, speechless and transfixed as she doused herself in kerosene oil. A matchstick burned, the oil bottle crashed on the floor as a fresh wave of screams pierced the night.

What should have been a happy occasion turned into a living nightmare.

“When Zahid heard about our eighth child, he came home furious. He lashed at me; I thought he was going to beat me to death. After he left I thought this was it. I did not want to live anymore.”

She set herself on fire.

The neighbours came to her rescue as her screams erupted and took her to the hospital.

But it was hardly the treatment that her severely-burned body required.

Even days after she returned from the hospital, she was subjected to more torture at the hands of Zahid.

“I was bandaged from head-to-toe. But even then, he pounded me till my bandages were ripped apart. He told everyone that I had a questionable character and that the child wasn’t his.”

The newborn died when Najma couldn’t feed him because of her deteriorating health.

“Six days after my son’s death, he divorced me and threw me out of the house.”

Fighting back

It came as no surprise to Najma that no one was ready to give her shelter or the custody for her children. Two of her children were sent to Lahore to their paternal aunt’s place, and the other two were taken by Zahid to Hyderabad. Their house was sold.

With no roof over her head and no money, Najma resolved to banish her haunting past and get her children back.

“I knew I had made mistakes in my life by not standing up, by continuing to live with my husband for 11 years and for trying to kill myself, but I also knew I had to fix my life. God wanted me to live.”

Najma continued to make tassels, the raw material were her only luggage.

Najma shows the different steps required to make a tassel. -Photo by Muhammad Umar

She would sit on the corner of the road for hours a day, intertwining strings around electricity poles till a tassel was formed. With the little money she saved, she would spend it in buying sweets in bulk and selling them door-to-door on minimum profit.

“I made tassels during the day and at night I would knock on doors to sell sweets. Many refused to even open the door because of my visible burns. I even worked as a maid for a while; I did everything I could so I had enough to travel to Lahore to take my children back.”

She would sleep under the open sky at Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine, or under fruit carts at night.

But Najma had not fully recovered from the burns and bruises. Strangers came to her aid more than her blood relatives ever had.

“There came a time when my body was covered with insects. I had worked too hard and my burns had not healed. A man at Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine saw my condition and financed my entire surgery at Aga Khan Hospital.”

Her survival was on zakat and free food at the tomb, saving up every penny to take a bus to Lahore.

"She has to be one of the bravest women I know. For a woman to go through so much, in our kind of society where men are apparently always right, this is indeed something to be proud of. After suffering so much physical and mental trauma, I don't think even men would have recovered. She even gave her children an education," Abdul Malik, Najma's neighbour says.

Family reunited

It took Najma two and half years to earn enough money to travel to Lahore and get her children.

“I saw ami walking in the lane where we were playing and could not believe my eyes. I told my brother and we ran towards her,” said Hina, Najma’s only daughter.

It was soon evident to the mother that her children had not been treated well.

“My son’s arm was burned and my daughter face was covered in lice,” Najma recalls with contempt.

The children along with their mother went back to Karachi and took a house on rent in Lyari.

“The landlord was unwilling to give the house because I was alone and without male supervision. I promised him I would pay the rent on time, even if it meant starving myself.”

Najma often only had a day’s meal but her life was slowly getting back on track. She enrolled her children in school. An unexpected visitor also came soon afterwards. Her son, Rizwan, who had been taken by his father to Hyderabad, ran away and came to Karachi looking for his mother.

Zahid had remarried in Hyderabad to a woman who later divorced him and he now lives alone.

Najma, on the other hand, got her daughter married to a young worker, who she had met in Lighthouse market. She is now living with her children, their spouses and grandchildren in Sultanabad, away from the memories of Lyari.

Najma with her grandson. -Photo by Muhammad Umar

Her ailing health continues to trouble her, along with limited income to educate her children and grandchildren.

As a result of her own misfortunes, Najma has taken it upon herself to instill a sense of independence in the women in her neighbourhood. She generously trains and equips other women with the skill of tassel-making.

“I have started to make small colourful balls that are put on clothes on Rs 5 for 100 along with the tassels. I will continue to work till I can,” Najma says.

As a group of women gather around to hear her story of resilience, it becomes apparent that Najma's destiny was to survive and inspire others.Source:Dawn

Sohagpur 34 widows want execution of Wat Criminal Kamaruzzaman-Sumi Khan

On 9 May 2013 the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced him to death after it found Kamaruzzaman guilty of crimes against humanity including genocide, killing, rape, looting, arson, and deportation of people during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Bangladesh's Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty handed down for a Jamaat-e-Islami leader for atrocities committed more than four decades ago, the latest in a spate of rulings against the Islamist party's officials.
Mohammad Kamaruzzaman, 62, assistant secretary-general of the party, was found guilty on Monday of genocide and torture of unarmed civilians during the 1971 war to breakaway from Pakistan, by a special war crimes tribunal in May last year.
Under Bangladesh jail code, the execution of an accused could be carried out within 21 days and before 28 days of the Supreme Court's latest upholding of a death sentence on 3rd November,2014. .
"The jail authorities will start the process of his execution after getting the certified copy of the verdict," our correspondent said, adding that Kamaruzzaman can only file a review petition to "buy a little more time, or hope for presidential clemency, which is unlikely to be granted under the present government".   Assistant Secretary General Kamaruzzaman was sent to the gallows on seven counts of crimes against humanity including murder, genocide, torture and forced deportation.is the senior assistant secretary general of the militant political party Bangladesh Jamayat-e-Islami convicted of war crimes during the 1971 Liberation war of Bangladesh.He is also the editor of the Militant organization Jamayat e Islam owned Weekly Sonar Bangla.  In 1971, eight members of Jaritan’s family, including her husband and son, were gunned down. “They dragged my husband out of our house to the yard and shot him six times. When he wanted water, they shot him again and he breathed his last. They brought my treasure trove, my son Hashem, threw him on his father’s dead body and killed him as well. Then they stabbed my brother-in-law with a bayonet and eventually killed him shooting inside his mouth,” Jaritan thus described her dreadful experience 43 years back.

Jabeda Bewa, widow of another martyr Fazar Ali, said,“Kamaruzzaman, the leader of those who killed our men, has been sentenced to death. That is the least solace that we could have expected for our heavy hearts.”

Bewa is a title given to widows in some areas of Bangladesh.

Nure Maan Bewa, wife of martyr Jasimuddin, said: “The Pakistani soldiers did not know the area. Razakars and al-Badr members showed them the way. They are the ones who did the massacre, made us widows and killed our relatives. They told the Pakistan soldiers that there were freedom fighters in our village. Kamaruzzaman was their leader. The death sentence will give us blood for blood. We are happy.”

That infamous mass killing turned the Sohagpur village in Nalitabari of Sherpur “manless.” After that, just like uncountable other villages across the country, Sohagpur also came to be known as a “village of widows.”

These widows have all testified against Kamaruzzaman in the war crimes case.

Jalaluddin, son of 1971 martyr Safir Uddin said,  they were happy with the verdict and scared too. “Kamaruzzaman’s followers have been threatening us. They said they would teach us a good lesson when there is a change in power.”A total of 34 widows of Liberation War martyrs live in the village today. For most of them, the only sources of income are the meagre allowances from the government and a few private banks which by no stretch of imagination are reasonable.

On July 25, 1971, Pakistani soldiers ran a massacre in Sohagpur village on the Indian border – some 36km from Sherpur district town. On that day, they, along with their Razakar and al-Badr collaborators, killed at least 187 men in just six hours. They broke into people’s houses and brutally killed innocent peasants and labourers. Jamaat leader Kamaruzzaman, then a leader of Jamaat-e-Islami’s student front Islami Chhatra Sangha, was at the forefront.

Many people from greater Sherpur area testified as prosecution witness against Kamaruzzaman before the International Crimes Tribunal, which handed down death sentence to the war criminal in May last year. The Supreme Court yesterday upheld that verdict after hearing Kamaruzzaman’s appeal petition.

One of them was Manwar Hossain Khan alias Mohan Munshie. “I wanted to be a freedom fighter. But Kamaruzzaman forced said." me to become the security guard of a torture cell that he had set up in the house of Suren Babu.”  Another witness Mojibur Rahman Panu said: “In 1971, Kamaruzzaman and his men picked me up from my house and took me to the Ahmadnagar camp. There they lined up many people and opened fire on them. I survived miraculously.” Sohagpur widows  want execution of the verdict immediately!

Heart-wrenching scenes: Wagah blast victims death toll rose to 62 on Monday

Soldiers carry coffin of Capt Shumaila Nadeem, who along with her husband & 2 daughters, was killed in Wagah border.

LAHORE: Amid heart-wrenching scenes in Lahore's hospitals, where bodies of Wagah blast victims were handed over to their families after postmortem, Pakistani authorities announced the arrest of at least 20 people, including a suspected suicide bomber, for Sunday's attack. The death toll rose to 62 on Monday.

Authorities said they recovered 8kg explosive and a suicide vest from area flanking the blast site, even as entire Pakistan was on red alert on Muharram eve to deter any possible attack on Shias who've been targeted by the Taliban and its offshoots in the past. Cops in Lahore told news agencies that residential areas in Wagah were being searched and 20 people were arrested, including a 17-year-old suspected suicide-bomber, Abdul Rehman, a resident of Multan district, 350km away. Rehman had gone missing from a seminary in the old city of Lahore a month ago.

"Police along with an intelligence agency raided a house in Multan and arrested Rehman," a cop said, adding Rehman is now at an unknown place being questioned.
Cops in Lahore told news agencies that residential areas in Wagah were being searched and 20 people were arrested, including a 17-year-old suspected suicide-bomber, Abdul Rehman, a resident of Multan district, 350km away. Rehman had gone missing from a seminary in the old city of Lahore a month ago.

"Police along with an intelligence agency raided a house in Multan and arrested Rehman," a cop said, adding Rehman is now at an unknown place being questioned.

Women Madrasa :Breeding ground of Militancy

The women nabbed at the Burdwan blast site on 2nd October have admitted to having received training in a Khariji madrassa in Mangalkot. Women schooled in khariji madrassas have played a key role in the entire plot. Two Bangladeshi bomb makers — Shamim Shakil Ahmed and Sovan Mondal — died in the explosion.

Ahmed’s widow Gulshana (Rumi) Bibi and Sovan's widow Amina Bibi, residents of the bomb-assembling unit, were arrested soon after the blast. the state CID (criminal investigating department) has recovered a SIM card registered in the name of a third woman, Rajira Bibi. The SIM was used to make several calls to terrorist Shakil Ahmed (Shakil was blown to pieces in the blast).

police arrested Abdul Hakim, who is recovering in Burdwan Medical College. He received arms training at Lalgola's Mokumnagar Madrassa.Rumi Bibi (Ahmed’s widow)stated that The terror group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB, a terror outfit linked to the banned Jamaat-e-Islami) was planning to make rocket launchers with lathe machines. Rumi Bibi had told security agencies that they sent four consignments of bombs in the last three months through Kausar and another man called Rasiq. security teams are using call data records of the dead terrorists and the injured to track their accomplices in India. Police said they found documents linked to al Qaeda and Chechen rebels, as many as 55 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), 40 explosives (25 were grenades), large amount of chemicals used in making bomb(like acetone, ammonium nitrate, magnesium etc.), several detonators, a number of wristwatch dials, mobile devices and more. They clearly suggest that the Trinamool Congress leader’s house and the regional party office was being used as a terrorist safehouse and a cottage bomb manufacturing unit.

NIA official said "By the time our officers reached the spot there was a teething hurry on part of the local police to destroy the evidence. The police wanted it to seem like a cylinder blast and hence all the explosives and similar other evidence was taken away to the banks of Damodar and detonated.
(The bomb disposal ‎unit was very present and could have contained any explosion if that is what the local police was worried about, the NIA says.)

On questioning some of the suspects the NIA also learnt that the accused at the spot were being aided in destroying the evidence. On interrogation of the two women they learnt that communication details between the local leaders and the ploy to target the Bangladesh government is what was being protected. The police wanted it to seem like a cylinder blast and hence all the explosives were taken away and detonated.

Standard operating procedure mandates that evidence is preserved. Intelligence bureau officers and the NIA term this an attempt on part of the local police and government to cover up the operation. The police tried to :
i) make it seem as a cylinder blast
ii) burn down all documents linking local leaders to the Jamaat-e-Islami which was planning on using West Bengal as breeding ground to target the Awami League.
iii) Coaching the accused woman to reveal nothing and feign ignorance.
iv) Non-Cooperation ‎with central agencies like NIA, IB and R&AW.
v) reject an NIA probe despite national and international ramifications, as Mamta Banerjee insists on keeping them away.
vi) Ignore the IB alert after Jamaat link has been proven in case of multi billion rupees Saradha Scam.

Two more houses used by the Burdwan blast suspect have been found at a walking distance from the Khagragarh house where the explosion took place. There was a huge hue nd cry against the local SP Mr. S M H Mirza . Demand for his resignation was made by opposition parties like BJP as well as some local groups. They alleged he was abetting the crimes for a long time now and the government is doing nothing despite having full knowledge of these activities. What makes the situation more embarrassing is the fact that the site of bomb making was withing a kilometer of the CID office.

Recently, The head of the little-known Ansar al-Tawhid fi’Bilad al-Hind urged Muslims to kill foreigners and other infidels in India. Fugitive jihadist Sultan Abdul Kadir Armar, a former resident of southern India who attended a Madrassa before going to Pakistan, said in a statement :  "Kill the idol worshippers wherever you find them ... shoot them if you can, stab them, throw stones at their heads, poison them, run them over, burn their fields - and if you are unable ... spit in their faces," referring to Hindus.

flags of the insurgent group have appeared at rallies in Indian Kashmir. Also the IB has warned the neighboring states against the terrorists taking a temporary refuge following the exposure they face due to the Burdwan blast. Members who have been operating under the banner of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, Bangladesh JuM(B) will make attempts to flee West Bengal. The warning is specific to the states of Bihar, Assam and Jharkhand.