Wed 29 Mar 2006
In 2003 , 19 years old Fahima Begum Rina married one Siddiqul Islam, who later became known to the world as infamous Bangla Bhai. Nobody has to do a lot of guessing to conclude that Fahima Begum Rina didn’t have any say in this marriage. And even after marriage, I don’t know how much this young wife had to do in supporting the outdoor activities of Bangla bhai. Especially the world Bangla bhai wants to create doesn’t give women any say in anything. So I must assume that in personal life Bangla bhai practiced what he preached.
Nurjahan Begum Rupa, at the age of 12, was forced into wedlock to Shaykh Abdur Rahman. Forget about consent, I am not sure whether Rupa ever saw the man she was marrying.
The militant, Molah Omar alias Shakil,who killed himself in comilla did so with his wife and minor children.
Unlike Maoist militants, Islamist militants can’t apparently lead the underground life without sex, wife and the resulting children. All militant captured so far were hiding along with wife and children.
Anyway, I don’t know what happened to those children. Especially those very minor ones who suddenly stopped seeing both their parents. And all the militant’s women are in police custody now. Remand after remand. Then jail, “jenana” ward. Probably in a small room floor with arrested street prostitutes, criminals, homeless vagabonds etc.
In Bangladesh culture, how common is it for a wife to go against husbands professional life or ideology? Even a bandit’s wife lives a life supporting justifying and tolerating husbands profession. Occassionally to protest or to question is something that they don’t have in their culture. Often they tolerate for the sake of the children. In other times, they are kept captive to imposed religious decree.
I feel these women are not terrorists. They are rather victim of the circumstances and faulty ideology of their husbands. I believe our human rights groups and woman’s rights group should stand up and rehabilitate these unfortunate women and the children.
March 29th, 2006 at 10:07 am
Dear Rumi, you have raised an issue very close to my heart, and it is the education of children, to instil in them a sense of their inviolable right to a life free from abuse.
One of the things that shocks me is this thing of marrying pubescent and prebuscent girls to men who are old enough to be their fathers or grandfathers. There will be no social upliftment in Bangladesh until this form of abuse of girls is eradicated.