Rifles Bread Women
Rifles Bread Women admirably projects the essential spirit of the Bangladesh liberation war and clearly shows the causes and circumstances that made it inevitable, giving a graphic description of the killings, lootings and mass destruction perpetrated by the Pakistani army when it unleashed on the unarmed civilian population of Bangladesh a genocide of unimaginable proportions. The novel vividly portrays many characters and scenes which enable the reader vicariously to feel the anxiety, anguish, grief as well as the anger, hope and determination generated in the mind of the Bengalees after the holocaust of March 25, 1971. The actual events dealt with in the novel do not cover more than three days in the last week of March 1971. They do not go beyond the confines of the beleaguered city of Dhaka, but through conversations and reminiscences they take the reader further back and reveal to him the injustices done to the people of the then East Pakistan by the dictatorial regimes of Ayub, Yahya and others. The novel refers to the inspiring role of Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and speaks of the impact of his now famous speech of March 7, 1971. ... ... one might call it a docu-novel. However, it undoubtedly reaches the level of a successful creative work by virtue of the authors many achievements. It is rich in characterisation. And it eschews exaggeration, sloppy sentimentalism and lurid melodrama. If anything, the author presents his theme in a low key and consistently endeavors to maintain a proper perspective. ...
Anwar Pasha (1928-1971), poet, novelist, critic and educationist passed his BA examination in 1951 from Rajshahi Govt. College and MA in Bangla from Calcutta University in 1953. He taught in West Bengal for some time and then came over to East Bengal. He joined the Bengali Department of Dhaka University in 1966 and taught there till his tragic death in 1971. He was mild-mannered, soft-spoken, a committed teacher with progressive liberal- humanistic values and was greatly loved by his colleagues and students. On 14th December 1971, he was picked up from his residence in the Dhaka University Teachers\' Residential quarters by some Al-Badr members who made up the native killing squad of the Pakistan Occupation Army. He was brutally murdered after being taken to Rayerbazar killing ground. Among Anwar Pasha\'s major literary contributions are: Nishuti Rater Gatha, Rifle Roti Aurat, Nirupaya Horinee (Fiction); Nadi Nihsheshito Hole (Poetry); Shahityashilpi Abul Fazal, Rabindra Chhotogalpo Shamiksha (Criticism). In 1972, he was posthumously honoured by Bangla Academy Literary Award. ... The Translator Kabir Chowdhury (1923) is a noted translator, critic and essayist. His elegant and lively English translations of Bengali poems, novels and short stories have been widely acclaimed at home and abroad. He has received many national and international awards for his contributions in the field of literature, education and peace.