Author: Ayet Abdellah

Human history is littered with the mass rape of women, which has time and again become even more pervasive during wartime. During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which led to the independence of Bangladesh on December 16, the Pakistani army did not stay behind. It systematically weaponized rape as an instrument of war against Bengalis. The aim was simple: to dilute a people’s racial identity, to destroy their nationalism, and to dishonor the enemy by invading the sanctity of their women. A fatwa, a formal religious opinion or decree, was issued declaring Bengali and Hindu women as the war…