Prostitutes' win on burials gives life to struggle

Oppressed and suppressed for centuries, the prostitutes of Bangladesh's largest and oldest red-light district, Daulatdia, can now at least die in peace.

After four years of struggle, about 1,500 Muslim sex workers in the port town 90km from the capital, Dhaka, recently won the right to a dignified burial with full Islamic rites - something that has been denied them for as long as anyone can remember.

Strictly barred from community graveyards, Daulatdia's prostitutes were forced to throw their dead into the Padma River flowing past the seedy brothels which date to the 18th century.

Shunned as society's outcasts, they were also forbidden to wear headscarves and shoes while travelling to distinguish them from other women, and were not allowed to send their children to school.

But in June, brushing aside all local opposition, newly elected member of parliament Ali Newaj Khaiyum helped the prostitutes' guild buy a plot of land and register it as a graveyard, redeeming a pledge he had made while seeking their votes before the October polls last year.

Marjina Bibi, who heads the first officially registered sex workers' guild in the country, said the low-lying plot, bought for 100,000 takas (HK$14,000) with financial assistance from several non-government organisations, will be ready for use by October.