Maleka Khan

Maleka Khan (; born ) is a Bangladeshi social worker and activist for the rights of the Birangana, women raped during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

Early life and career Khan trained as a social worker, and later served as the secretary of the East Pakistan branch of the Pakistan Girl Guides Association, and subsequently the Bangladesh Girl Guides Association following Bangladesh's independence.

Activism

Bangladesh Liberation War (1971) In 1971, a revolution and armed conflict emerged in East Pakistan, sparked by the rise of Bengali nationalism and a subsequent self-determination movement. After the Pakistani military junta, based in West Pakistan, launched a military assault to suppress the nationalist movement, an underground resistance movement, the Mukti Bahini, started a guerrilla war against the Pakistan Armed Forces.

When hostilities broke out, Khan was working for the Bangladesh Girls Guide Association in Dhaka. She fled with her husband to stay with his family in Narsingdi, though she continued visiting Dhaka weekly, where she trained girl guides with skills to utilise as part of the war effort; her in-laws' home also served as a secret support base for freedom fighters during the war.

Khan's brother, Atiqur Rahman, was killed by members of the Pakistan Army while stationed at Comilla Cantonment in Mainamati, Comilla District; his body was recovered in a mass grave in 1972.

Bangladesh Central Women's Rehabilitation Centre (1972–1975) In December 1971, the war came to an end with the Pakistani Armed Forces surrendering and East Pakistan seceding from Pakistan as the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Following this, Khan returned to Dhaka permanently, where she was asked to help mobilise female volunteers to support with war recovery efforts. On 22 December 1971, the government of Bangladesh declared the women to be Birangana , with the country's president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, calling them his "daughters" and urging Bangladeshis to treat them with "honour and dignity". Khan worked closely with Sufia Kamal, a poet who established Kendriya Mahila Punarbashan Shanshta, an organisation to support female survivors of rape and torture during the war; in 1972, Khan became the executive director of the Bangladesh Central Women's Rehabilitation Centre (CWRC), established at 20 New Eskaton Road, Dhaka.

The CWRC provided shelter, counselling, and training for Biranganas, many of whom were socially rejected due to their status. Khan publicly called on the Bangladeshi government to permit abortions for Biranganas pregnant as a result of rape, as well as to legalise adoption for babies born as a result; she criticised the lack of support given to Biranganas by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, particularly after he said publicly that "we do not want Pakistani blood" in reference to babies fathered by Pakistani soldiers.

Khan has also called on the international community to put the perpetrators of the Bangladesh genocide on trial.