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Razakars (Pakistan)

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Not to be confused with Razakars (Hyderabad).

Razakar
Active1971
Disbanded16 December, 1971 (defeated)
AllegiancePakistan
TypeInternal Security, Law Enforcement
Size30,000–40,000
Garrison/HQKhulna, Kushtia, Savar
Nickname(s)Razakar Bahini
EngagementsBangladesh Liberation War
Commanders
Notable
commanders		Tikka Khan

The Razakar (Urdu: رضا کار Bengali: রাজাকার, lit. 'Volunteer') was an East Pakistani paramilitary force organised by General Tikka Khan in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). [1]

Etymology and terminology

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Razakar is a Persian term meaning volunteer.[2] The Bangladesh government denotes all collaborators of the Pakistani forces as Razakar.[1] This includes leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, members of East Pakistan Central Peace Committee and even the Chakma King Maharaja Tridev Roy.[1]

In Bangladesh today, Razakar is used as a pejorative term meaning "traitor" or Judas.[3]

History and organization

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In June 1971, the Ansar was disbanded and reconstituted as the Razakars.[4][5] Initially, they were controlled by the Shanti Committee,[2] which was formed by several pro-Pakistani leaders including Nurul Amin and Khwaja Khairuddin.[6] Bangladeshi journalist Shahriar Kabir alleges that the first recruits were 96 Jamaat party members, who started training in an Ansar camp at Khan Jahan Ali Road, Khulna.[7]

The East Pakistan Razakars Ordinance was promulgated on 2 August 1971 by the Governor of East Pakistan, Lieutenant General Tikka Khan.[8] The Ordinance stipulated the creation of a voluntary force to be trained and equipped by the Provincial Government.[8] Then, they were reorganized as members of the Pakistan Army through an ordinance of the Ministry of Defence promulgated on 7 September, 1971.[2] The Razakar force was placed under the command of Major General Mohammed Jamshed.[9] Organizational command of the Razakar was given to Abdur Rahim.[10]

The Razakars had two branches, they were Al-Badr and Al-Shams paramilitary forces.[citation needed] Students from madrasahs were inducted into Al-Badr for specialised operations, while Al-Shams was tasked with protection of important strategic locations.[11]

The Razakar force was organised into brigades of around 3000–4000 volunteers, mainly armed with light Infantry weapons provided by the Pakistan Army. Each Razakar Brigade was attached as an auxiliary to two Pakistani Regular Army Brigades, and their main function was to arrest and detain nationalist Bengali suspects. Suspects were tortured during custody and killed.[12][13][14] The Razakars were trained by the Pakistan Army.[15]

The Razakars were paid by the Pakistan Army and Provincial Government.[16] Leading supporters of a united Pakistan urged General Yahya Khan to increase the number of Razakars and given them more arms to extend their activities in East Pakistan.[17] They were advised "to uproot secessionists, antisocialists and Naxalites." [4]

Towards the end of 1971, increasing numbers of Razakars were deserting, as the end of the war approached and Bangladesh moved towards independence.[18]

War crimes

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Main articles: 1971 Bangladesh genocide, 1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals, and Rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War

During the war, the Pakistani Army committed genocide on the populace. The Razakar militias actively supported their killings of an estimated 3,000,000 people.[19][20] They operated concentration camps[4] and used rape as weapon of war.[21][22]

The Razakars violated Geneva Conventions of War by partipcating in numerous massacres of civilians. [23][24][25][26]

The Dakra massacre was an instance of one such massacre where 646 Bengali Hindus were killed.[27]

Razakars allegedly killed Hindu civilians during the war. On 5 August 1971, six Hindus were killed by the Razakars in Panti village under Kumarkhali sub-division.[28] They killed 3 Hindus in Sylhet and 19 Hindus in Jessore, Gopalganj and Chittagong hill tracts.[29][30]

Genocide

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See also: List of massacres in Bangladesh

During the Bangladesh genocide in Bangladesh Liberation War, the Pakistani Military[19] and several militia organizations created by the Pakistani military violated Geneva Conventions of War by participating in numerous massacres of civilians,[31][32][33][34] committed genocide of between 300,000 to 3 million civilians,[19][35] operated concentration camps,[4] and used rape as weapon of war[36][37] against Bengali Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist minorities. Active collaborators of the Pakistan Military in perpetuation of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bangladesh include Al Badr,[38][39] Al Sham,[40] East Pakistan Central Peace Committee,[41] Razakars,[42] Muslim League,[43] and Jamaat-e-Islami,[43]. Bangladesh Genocide Remembrance Day honors the victims of genocide.

Dissolution

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Following the surrender of the East Pakistani troops on 16 December 1971 and the proclamation of independence of Bangladesh, the Razakar units were dissolved. The Jamaat party was banned, as it had opposed independence. Many leading Razakars fled to Pakistan (previously West Pakistan).[42]

Waves of violence followed the official end of the war, and some lower-ranking Razakars were killed in reprisals by Mukti Bahini militia.[44][self-published source?] The government rounded up and imprisoned an estimated 36,000 men suspected of being Razakars. The government ultimately freed many of those held in jail, both in response to pressure from the United States and China, who backed Pakistan in the war, and to gain co-operation from Pakistan in obtaining the release of 200,000 Bengali-speaking military and civilian personnel who had been stranded or imprisoned in West Pakistan during the war.[45][unreliable source?]

Trials

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In 2010, the Bangladesh Government set up an International Crimes Tribunal based on the International Crimes Tribunal Act 1973 to prosecute the people who committed war crimes and crimes against humanities during the liberation war in 1971. People of Pakistan who were not aware of their crimes due to censorship by Yahya regime, have now openly welcome their trials and even support their public execution.[46][47][48]

Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, the Nayeb-e-Ameer of Jamaat, was convicted of eight charges of war crimes and alleged to be a member of the Razakars, was sentenced to death for two of them in February 2013.[49] However, the trial process has been termed as "politically motivated" by its critics, while the human rights groups recognised the tribunal as falling short of international standards.[50]

Convicted members

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On 16 December 2019, the Government of Bangladesh published the names of 10,789 Razakars who collaborated with Pakistan's Army in carrying out atrocities against the Bengalis during the 1971 Liberation War.[1]

Use of term in protests

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During the 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement to abolish or change the quota system that gave public benefits to descendants of freedom fighters, then prime minister Sheikh Hasina dismissively asked whether grandchildren of Razakars should get quota benefits. This spurred the protesters to spontaneously self-identify as Razakars to reappropriate the use of the term.[53]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Govt publishes list of Razakars". The Daily Star. 16 December 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Razakar". Banglapedia. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  3. ^ Mookherjee, Nayanika (2009). Sharika Thiranagama; Tobias Kelly (eds.). Traitors: Suspicion, Intimacy, and the Ethics of State-Building. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-8122-4213-3.
  4. ^ a b c d "First Razakar camp in Khulna turns into ghost house after Liberation War". The Daily Observer (Bangladesh). Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Translation of ATN Bangla Interview". Professor Ghulam Azam. 27 December 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  6. ^ The Wall Street Journal, 27 July 1971; quoted in the book Muldhara 71 by Moidul Hasan
  7. ^ "Razakar was launched with 96 Jamaat men". The Daily Star. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  8. ^ a b "The East Pakistan Razakars Ordinance, 1971, An Ordinance" (PDF). The Dacca Gazette Extraordinary. 2 August 1971. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2013 – via International Crimes Strategy Forum.
  9. ^ Siddiqui, A. R. (2004). East Pakistan – the Endgame: An Onlooker's Journal 1969–1971. Oxford University Press. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-19-579993-4.
  10. ^ Lifschultz, Lawrence (1979). Bangladesh: The Unfinished Revolution. Zed Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-905762-07-X. The following summer [1971], ... [Abdur] Rahim chose to return voluntarily to East Pakistan and take up active duty on the side of the Pakistan authorities ... Rahim took organizational command of the notorious Razakar paramilitary forces.
  11. ^ Roy, Kaushik; Gates, Scott (2014). Unconventional Warfare in South Asia: Shadow Warriors and Counterinsurgency. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-4724-0579-1.
  12. ^ "Charges pressed against 5 Kishoreganj 'Razakars'". The Daily Star. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  13. ^ "Razakars killed doc on Yusuf's order". The Daily Star. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  14. ^ Khan, Tamanna. "V for a mother". The Daily Star. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  15. ^ Khuram Iqbal (2015). The Making of Pakistani Human Bombs. Lexington Books. p. 38.
  16. ^ "Razakar's pay revised upwards". The Pakistan Observer. 20 November 1971.
  17. ^ "Increase number of Razakars". The Pakistan Observer. 7 November 1971.
  18. ^ US Department of State, "Sitrep," 5 October 1971, cited in R. Sisson and L. E. Rose. Pakistan, India, and the Creation of Bangladesh, University of California Press, 1990, p 308.
  19. ^ a b c "Bangladesh war: The article that changed history". BBC News. 25 March 2010.
  20. ^ White, Matthew, Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century
  21. ^ Sharlach, Lisa (2000). "Rape as Genocide: Bangladesh, the Former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda". New Political Science. 22 (1): 92–93. doi:10.1080/713687893. S2CID 144966485.
  22. ^ Sajjad, Tazreena (2012) [First published 2009]. "The Post-Genocidal Period and its Impact on Women". In Totten, Samuel (ed.). Plight and Fate of Women During and Following Genocide. Transaction Publishers. p. 225. ISBN 978-1-4128-4759-9.
  23. ^ "Forkan Razakar's verdict any day". Dhaka Tribune. 14 June 2015.
  24. ^ "Why is the mass sexualized violence of Bangladesh's Liberation War being ignored?". Women In The World. 25 March 2016.
  25. ^ "Discovery of numerous Mass Graves, Various types of torture on Women" and "People's Attitude" (PDF). kean.edu.
  26. ^ "Crimes Against Humanity in Bangladesh". scholar.smu.edu.
  27. ^ "Dakra massacre: A witness to 1971 brutality of Pakistani army ally Razakars". India Today. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  28. ^ "Six Hindus killed by Razakars". The Pakistan Observer. 6 August 1971.
  29. ^ "Razakars kill indian agents". The Pakistan Observer. 22 October 1971.
  30. ^ "Razakars kill 19 indian agents". The Pakistan Observer. 2 November 1971.
  31. ^ "Forkan Razakar's verdict any day". Dhaka Tribune. 14 June 2015.
  32. ^ "Why is the mass sexualized violence of Bangladesh's Liberation War being ignored?". Women In The World. 25 March 2016.
  33. ^ "Discovery of numerous Mass Graves, Various types of torture on Women" and "People's Attitude" (PDF). kean.edu.
  34. ^ "Crimes Against Humanity in Bangladesh". scholar.smu.edu.
  35. ^ White, Matthew, Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century
  36. ^ Sharlach, Lisa (2000). "Rape as Genocide: Bangladesh, the Former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda". New Political Science. 22 (1): 92–93. doi:10.1080/713687893. S2CID 144966485.
  37. ^ Sajjad, Tazreena (2012) [First published 2009]. "The Post-Genocidal Period and its Impact on Women". In Totten, Samuel (ed.). Plight and Fate of Women During and Following Genocide. Transaction Publishers. p. 225. ISBN 978-1-4128-4759-9.
  38. ^ Mamoon, Muntassir. "Al-Badr". Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  39. ^ Sisson, Richard; Rose, Leo E. (1991). War and Secession: Pakistan, India, and the Creation of Bangladesh. University of California Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-520-07665-5.
  40. ^ "Pakistan's first two militant Islamist groups, Al-Badar and Al-Shams – by Nadeem F. Paracha". LUBP. Archived from the original on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  41. ^ Karlekar, Hiranmay (2005). Bangladesh: The Next Afghanistan?. SAGE. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-7619-3401-1.
  42. ^ a b "Govt publishes list of Razakars". The Daily Star. 16 December 2019.
  43. ^ a b Kann, Peter R. (27 July 1971). "East Pakistan Is Seen Gaining Independence, But It Will Take Years". The Wall Street Journal.
  44. ^ "'Tui Razakar!' – Picturing Revenge and Reprisal in Bangladesh". The Khichuri. Archived from the original on 14 March 2013.
  45. ^ Dr. Mohammad Hannan, History of Liberation War of Bangladesh (বাংলাদেশের মুক্তিযুদ্ধের ইতিহাস- ড: মোহাম্মদ হান্নান)
  46. ^ "The International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973". bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  47. ^ "Bangladesh to Hold Trials for 1971 War Crimes". Voice of America. 26 March 2010.
  48. ^ "Bangladesh sets up 1971 war crimes tribunal". BBC News. 25 March 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  49. ^ "Gallows for Sayedee". The Daily Star. 1 March 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  50. ^ "Bangladesh war crimes trial: Delwar Hossain Sayeedi to die". BBC News. 28 February 2013. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  51. ^ "Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leader dies in prison". World Bulletin. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  52. ^ Shaon, Ashif Islam. "Forkan Razakar's verdict any day". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  53. ^ "PM's Quota Remark: Late-night protests rock DU, other universities". The Daily Star. 15 July 2024. Retrieved 24 July 2024.

Further reading

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  • Chandan, Azadur Rahman (February 2011) [2009]. একাত্তরের ঘাতক ও দালালরা [The Killers and Collaborators of 71] (Revised 2nd ed.). Dhaka: Jatiya Sahitya Prakash. pp. 48–54.
  • volunteers and Collaborators of 1971: An Account of Their Whereabouts, compiled and published by the Center for the Development of the Spirit of the Liberation War.
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