Shariatpur bids farewell to Birangona Jogmaya Malo with state honors

Birangona (War Heroine) and valiant freedom fighter Jogmaya Malo, who endured indescribable atrocities during the Great Liberation War of 1971, was honored in a final farewell ceremony with full state honors in Shariatpur today (6 January).

Jogmaya Malo, 84, breathed her last yesterday noon at her son's residence in South Madhyapara of Shariatpur municipality's ward number 7 after a long battle with cancer. She had been suffering from cancer along with several age-related ailments.

Shariatpur Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Ilora Yasmin paid the final tribute to the departed freedom fighter on behalf of the state in the afternoon.

A guard of honour was accorded to her as a mark of respect for her sacrifice and contribution during the Liberation War.

After the state honour, she was taken to the cremation ground at Madhyapara, where her last rites were performed in the evening in the presence of family members, relatives and locals.

Family members said Jogmaya Malo was the wife of the late Nepal Malo of South Madhyapara village under Shariatpur Sadar upazila. 

On 22 May 1971, Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators carried out a brutal massacre, looting and arson in Madhyapara village.

On that day, several members of Jogmaya's family were killed. Along with many other women, the then adolescent Jogmaya Malo was abducted and taken to a Pakistani army camp in Madaripur. There, she and others were confined and subjected to inhuman torture.

After the independence of Bangladesh, Jogmaya returned home along with other victims. Her husband, Nepal Malo, waited nearly seven months before he was reunited with his wife. However, tragedy followed her relentlessly, as Nepal Malo passed away just two years after independence, leaving Jogmaya with their three children alone.

Her life thereafter was marked by extreme hardship and poverty. Due to various pressures in the post-independence period, she lost her ancestral home, belonging to her husband and father-in-law. 

She later took shelter at the house of a local schoolteacher, Shyamol Roy, while her two sons struggled to earn a living by fishing.

Despite her suffering and sacrifice, Jogmaya's name was initially excluded from the official list of freedom fighters due to a bureaucratic tangle. She had to go from door to door for years to be recognised as a Birangona.

Finally, with the assistance of local freedom fighters and journalists, Jogmaya Malo's name was included in the Birangona list in 2018, along with several others. She then began receiving a freedom fighter's allowance, which helped cover her medical expenses.

On 16 December last year, victory day, Shariatpur Deputy Commissioner Tahsina Begum handed over a one-storey semi-permanent house, known as a "Bir Nibash," to Jogmaya's family. The freedom fighter spent only one night in the house before her death.

Her daughter-in-law, Doli Rani, said Jogmaya had been bedridden for a long time and was diagnosed with cancer about six months ago. "She had been undergoing chemotherapy. After enduring immense pain and suffering throughout her life, she finally breathed her last," she said.

Jogmaya Malo's death marks the passing of another silent witness to the Liberation War, whose life embodied both the brutality of 1971 and the long struggle for dignity thereafter.