Ayesha Siddiqa's op-ed on the Sarmila Bose findings
Military and the psychology of rape
Dr Ayesha Siddiqa
Sarmila Bose, an American writer who has worked on the anatomy of violence in the 1971 conflict and recently made a presentation on the subject at the US State department, is unhappy with the way Pakistani newspapers have reported the thrust of her paper. Largely ignoring her main theme, the Pakistani press, says Bose, has chosen to report that the Pakistan army did not commit any rape in East Pakistan. “Even the [Pakistan] army doesn’t say that! All I stated was that it [rape] hasn’t turned up in the specific instances I studied. That shows that the allegations are exaggerated, but you can’t claim on that basis that none happened at all!” she says.
Bose, whose study is about violence and not just rape , makes an interesting observation: the incidence of rape goes down when the general level of violence goes up because with violence at a high, there will be greater incidents of murder than rape.
It is not odd to conclude that army personnel would have committed rape in East Pakistan. Highly conscious of the power of the military and extremely upset with the political resistance in the eastern wing of the country that appeared to challenge the power of the western wing’s ideology of the state, army officers and jawans did use rape as a device to vent their anger. Rape is both a symbol of power and the frustration of the perpetrator of such violence. Interestingly, no senior general involved in 1971 has ever denied that rape took place. So one doesn’t need an American to change or challenge the fact.
It is, therefore, unfair to conclude that Bose had suggested that rape by army personnel did not take place. This is as absurd as it is to say that all military men fighting in 1971 had committed rape. Pakistan army is no different from other militaries that are accused of violence against people. For instance, while attacking Germany the Soviet soldiers raped, but such crimes were committed by a minority with the larger number contributing through looking on and not actively trying to stop the heinous acts.
Dr Ayesha Siddiqa
Sarmila Bose, an American writer who has worked on the anatomy of violence in the 1971 conflict and recently made a presentation on the subject at the US State department, is unhappy with the way Pakistani newspapers have reported the thrust of her paper. Largely ignoring her main theme, the Pakistani press, says Bose, has chosen to report that the Pakistan army did not commit any rape in East Pakistan. “Even the [Pakistan] army doesn’t say that! All I stated was that it [rape] hasn’t turned up in the specific instances I studied. That shows that the allegations are exaggerated, but you can’t claim on that basis that none happened at all!” she says.
Bose, whose study is about violence and not just rape , makes an interesting observation: the incidence of rape goes down when the general level of violence goes up because with violence at a high, there will be greater incidents of murder than rape.
It is not odd to conclude that army personnel would have committed rape in East Pakistan. Highly conscious of the power of the military and extremely upset with the political resistance in the eastern wing of the country that appeared to challenge the power of the western wing’s ideology of the state, army officers and jawans did use rape as a device to vent their anger. Rape is both a symbol of power and the frustration of the perpetrator of such violence. Interestingly, no senior general involved in 1971 has ever denied that rape took place. So one doesn’t need an American to change or challenge the fact.
It is, therefore, unfair to conclude that Bose had suggested that rape by army personnel did not take place. This is as absurd as it is to say that all military men fighting in 1971 had committed rape. Pakistan army is no different from other militaries that are accused of violence against people. For instance, while attacking Germany the Soviet soldiers raped, but such crimes were committed by a minority with the larger number contributing through looking on and not actively trying to stop the heinous acts.
posted by India News Watch at 5:02 AM
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