Rehana’s Memento of Sorrow

Rehana had no photographs, so her father, Abdus Salam Khan, framed her four-month-old dress. It is a simple, pale yellow cotton dress with a brown strip across the chest. The dress is now displayed in Gallery 2 of the Liberation War Museum.

Abdus Salam Khan of Senhati village in Khulna opposed Pakistani rule and organised local youth for the Liberation War. On 30 April 1971, collaborators and Pakistani soldiers raided his house. Unable to find him, they brutally killed four-month-old Rehana in the courtyard.

At night, Khan cleaned her bloodied body and released it into the Rupsa River. After the war, the dress was preserved in a frame as a memory of his daughter.

Historian and museum trustee Mofidul Hoque said that in 1996, Khan personally handed over the dress to the museum trustees during a meeting in Khulna and shared the tragic story. Dr. Sarwar Ali noted that the dress demonstrates that even infants were victims of genocide. Khan passed away on 22 February 2007. The dress remains a poignant symbol of the ultimate sacrifices made for independence.

Khaborwala/TSN