The conferring of the Nobel Peace Award this year to Nadia Murad of Iraq and Dr Daniel Mukwege of Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) has underscored once again the magnitude of the barbaric and spine-chilling international phenomenon of rape being used as a political weapon. This, as an instrument of war, is no less lethal than the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) which major powers of the day have in huge quantities. On many occasions the selection of the Nobel Peace prize had triggered controversies for its political undertones. But this time round the choice has been acclaimed across the globe. The recipient duo have outdone such big names on the short list including US President, Donald Trump, North Korean strongman, Kim Jong-un and South Korean President, Moon Jae-in. Naida Murad is both a victim and an activist highlighting the atrocities on and campaigning for women raped and dehumanised by the marauding forces of the Islamic State (IS) in the northern Iraqi town of Shinjar, inhabited by the minority Yazidi community. Nadia at 25 became the second youngest winner of the Peace Prize after Malala Yusufzai of Pakistan who risked her life trying to promote the spread of education among women in her country. Dr Mukwege, on the other hand, has been treating countless rape victims of DRC for the last twenty years ever since women, more than military assets had become the targets of warring groups vying for the control of the country. Humanity owes a great deal more than the Peace Prize to these extrordinary individuals. The noble doctor of course has several other prestigious awards to his credit for his services to the Congolese rape victims. It speaks volumes of Nadia’s level of tolerance of excruciating physical and mental anguish and steel determination as she did not stop after running away from the clutches of her IS tormentors. Once back to the civilised world she set about exposing the torture and humiliation heaped upon the Yazidis, particularly women. One cannot agree more with Berit Reiss Andersen, chairwoman of the Nobel Committee when she says, “We want to send out a message of awareness that women, who constitute half of the population in most communities, actually are used as a weapon of war and that they need protection and that the perpetrators have to prosecuted and held responsible for their actions”. The Bangladesh liberation war which saw the birth of a new nation of Bengali-speaking people had also witnessed mass rape and murder of women by Pakistani soldiers with the clear objective of breaking the morale of the Mukti Bahini. While the fundamentalist forces and a section of the army officers involved in the killing of Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahaman, his family members and Awami Party colleagues had been brought to book by the current Bangladeshi government, headed by Begum Hasina Wajed, few, if any, of the Pakistani forces brutalising women in the 1971 war have been punished.
