Pakistan Army raped 400,000 women during 1971 Bangladesh War? Shocking expose at UN, details here...

Slamming Pakistan at the UN over its dismal record on women's rights,  India's permanent representative Parvathaneni Harish accused the Pakistan Army of raping more than a lakh women during its Operation Searchlight when the Bangladesh Liberation War was at its peak. In a fiery speech, he reminded Islamabad of its war crimes and crimes against humanity as it attempted to highlight the "plight" of Kashmiri women at the forum. In a no-holds-barred attack on Pakistan, the Indian representative raked up 1971's Operation Searchlight, during which the Pakistani army began a brutal crackdown against the civilians. 

Pakistan Army rapes women in Bangladesh

If reports are to be believed, Pakistani troops and the members of the Razakar paramilitary force raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women and girls in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape. These were not isolated incidents of rape committed by individual soldiers; these were systematic rapes committed to silence the masses that were up in arms against the Pakistan government and they wanted an independent country of their own. These incidents of sexual violence caused thousands of pregnancies, births of war babies, abortions, infanticide, suicide, and ostracism of the victims. The atrocities came to an end only after the Pakistan Army surrendered to the Indian Army in December 1971. 

('Blood Telegram', sent by US Embassey in Pakistan on April 6, 1971.)

Abortion facilities, war babies

The government of Bangladesh set up a victim relief programme with the help of the World Health Organization and International Planned Parenthood Federation, to organise abortion facilities to help rape victims terminate unwanted pregnancies. A rehabilitation centre in Dhaka reported 170,000 abortions of pregnancies caused by rapes. It also reported the births of 30,000 war babies during the first three months of 1972.

How many women were raped?

Dr. Geoffrey Davis, an Australian doctor and abortion specialist, estimated the total number of rape victims to be 400,000. However, the official estimate of the Bangladesh government was 200,000. The International Commission of Jurists said in its report, "Whatever the precise numbers, the teams of American and British surgeons carrying out abortions and the widespread government efforts to persuade people to accept these girls into the community, testify to the scale on which raping occurred". It also said that Pakistani officers not only allowed their men to rape, but also enslaved women themselves.

Pakistan's president regrets atrocities

The Government of Pakistan established the Hamoodur Rahman Commission to prepare an account of the circumstances surrounding Pakistan's loss in the 1971 war. It was highly critical of the role played by the Pakistan Army. However, its records were destroyed by the government. The commission was reopened in 1974. It said that 26,000 people were killed and hundreds of women were raped. In a visit to Bangladesh in 2002, then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf expressed regret for the atrocities.