Sitara Begum

Sitara Begum
Begum in 2009
Personal details
Born (1946-09-05) 5 September 1946 (age 80)
Mymensingh District, Bengal Province, British India (present-day Kishoreganj District, Bangladesh)
CitizenshipBritish subject (1946–1947)
Pakistan (1947–1971)
Bangladesh (1971–present)
RelationsAbu Taher Mohammad Haider (brother)
Awards
Bir Pratik
Military service
Allegiance Pakistan (1970–1971)
 Bangladesh (1971–1973)
Branch/service
Years of service
1970–1973
RankCaptain
UnitPakistan Army Medical Corps
Battles/wars

Dr. Captain Sitara Begum is a Bangladeshi doctor, army officer, and war hero. She is one of two women in Bangladesh who have received the Bir Protik award. She served during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

Early life

Begum was born in Kishoreganj in 1946. Her father, Israil Mian, was a lawyer. She graduated from Holy Cross College, Dhaka. She completed her MBBS from Dhaka Medical College. She has two sisters and has two brothers, one of which was Major Abu Taher Mohammad Haider.

Career

Begum was commissioned in the Medical Corps of the Pakistan Army in 1970 as a lieutenant. She was stationed in Comilla Cantonment along with her brother. During the beginning of the Non-cooperation movement, she was in Kishoreganj for the Eid holidays, away from the cantonment. After the start of the Bangladesh Liberation War, she and her parents moved from Kishorganj to Meghalaya with the aid of Mukti Bahini members.

Captain Dr. Sitara was the commanding officer of the hospital known as the Bangladesh Field Hospital, with almost 400 beds under Sector 2 in 1971. She would have to travel to Agartala to gather the necessary medical supplies. The hospital catered to Bengali patients, wounded freedom fighters, and also members of the Indian army who sought medical aid at the centre.

She returned to Dhaka after the independence of Bangladesh.

Begum left Bangladesh after her brother was killed in the 7 November 1975 Bangladesh coup d'état and settled in the United States.

In 2025, she along with her husband Mohammad Abidur Rahman published a book titled Weeping Heart: Memoir of a Liberation War Physician. The book is her memoir of the Bangladesh Liberation War, a condemnation of the genocide and a call for justice.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Debnath, Bipul K. "Tales of Liberation War". The Independent. Dhaka. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Amin, Aasha Mehreen; Ahmed, Lavina Ambreen; Ahsan, Shamim (16 December 2016). "The women in our Liberation War". The Daily Star. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  3. ↑ "Sitara's Story". Sitara's Story. 2 September 2017. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  4. ↑ "Women Fighters in 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War: Sitara Begum". Bangladesh Feminist Archives. 19 December 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  5. ↑ "50 years later, the fight goes on". The Daily Star. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
  6. ↑ "The Forgotten Cogs of the Liberation War Wheel: Women". Ice Today. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  7. ↑ Begum, Sitara (2025). Weeping Heart: Memoir of a Liberation War Physician. United States: University Press Limited. ISBN 9789845064637.