LONDON: Britain is set to hear for the first time the voices of women who were systematically raped and tortured by the Pakistani army during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War .

Komola Collective, a London-based theatre and arts company, has dug out real-life stories of the two lakh women and girls who were raped and tortured by Pakistan's army — one of the worst incidents of genocidal rape in human history.

Scholars have suggested rape was used to terrorize the Bengali-speaking Muslim majority and the Hindu minority of Bangladesh, resulting in the births of war babies and, ultimately, to the ostracization of the victims.

The play, which will premiere in London on April 9, is called "Birangona" — meaning "Brave Woman" or "War Heroine".

"In 2010, I interviewed 21 such women who were raped by the army," Leesa Gazi, co-writer and lead performer of the play, said in an exclusive interview. "In 2013, I returned to them with my production company and picked out the most poignant of those stories. The play is about the experience of five of these women in Shirajgonj. Two of these women have died since.

These five women for the first time opened up about their horrific experiences — talked about their childhood, how they were captured, raped and how they were treated after the liberation of Bangladesh, where rape is considered a source of shame."

Marked with dishonour, these women were silenced, ostracized and forgotten. Komola Collective wants to help break this silence. Given how wartime rape is a phenomenon that affects people worldwide in present day, "we feel that it is important, now more than ever, to tell these stories. The 2014 tour of "Birangona: Women of War" is dedicated to Josna Begum who died in February 2014, 43 years after the independence of Bangladesh", Gazi said.

One of the stories is about Moryom. She still remembers the calming details of her life before: the taste of tamarind, the smell of her mother, holding her husband's hand as the war of independence tears through Bangladesh. Every day, she and her family hid from the army in the pond behind their house, while across the country women and girls started to disappear from streets and homes.

