Razakar (Pakistan)

The Razakar (Bengali: রাজাকার; Urdu: رضا کار‎, literally "volunteer") was a paramilitary force organized by the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

Since the 1971 war, it has become a pejorative term in Bangladesh due to the many suspected atrocities which the Razakars committed and/or facilitated during the war. The Razakar force was composed of mostly pro-Pakistan Bengalis and Urdu-speaking migrants who lived in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) at the time.^[1] At the present time, in Bangladesh, razakar means all pro-Pakistani Bangladeshis who helped the Pakistan army and tried to prevent the independence of Bangladesh.

Creation

The East Pakistan Razakar Ordinance promulgated on 1 June 1971 by the Governor of East Pakistan, Lieutenant General Tikka Khan.^[2] The Ordinance stipulated the creation of a voluntary force to be trained and equipped by the Provincial Government. This was to add to the government's forces to suppress the rebellion of people who wanted independence for the region. It is also alleged that Razakars were recruited by the Shanti Committee, which was formed by several pro-Pakistani leaders including Nurul Amin, Ghulam Azam and Khwaja Khairuddin.^[3] The first recruits included 96 Jamaat party members, who started training in an Ansar camp at Shahjahan Ali Road, Khulna.

Organisation

Together with the Al-Badr and Al-Shams paramilitary forces, the Razakar were under Pakistani Army command and also trained by them (see external link section).^[4] In September 1971, the Razakar force was placed under the command of Major General Mohammed Jamshed.^[5] Organisational command of the Razakar was given to Abdur Rahim who was trained at the Office of Public Safety. (This organisation had been assisted by USAID.)^[6]

The Razakar force was organised into brigades of around 3000-4000 volunteers, mainly armed with Light Infantry weapons provided by the Pakistani 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.^[7][8][9] The Razakars were trained by the Pakistan Army.^[10] While formed as a paramilitary group, the Razakars also served as local guides for the Pakistan army. Both organisations were later accused of having violated Geneva Conventions of War by raping, murdering and looting the locals.^[11] Razakars also allegedly killed Indian civilians during the war. On August 5, 1971, six Indians were killed by the Razakars in Panti village under Kumarkhali sub-division.^[12] They killed 3 Indians in Sylhet and 19 Indians in Jessore, Gopalganj and Chittagong hill tracts.^[13][14]

Quoting a declassified US document Azadur Rahman Chandan wrote, "the 'Rasikars' are a destabilizing element — living off the land, able to make life and death decisions by denouncing collaborators and openly pillaging and terrorizing villagers without apparent restraint from the Army".

The Razakars were paid by the Pakistan Army and Provincial Government.^[15] 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.^[16]

Towards the end of 1971, increasing numbers of Razakars were deserting, as the end of the war approached and Bangladesh moved towards independence.^[17]

Dissolution

Following the surrender of the West Pakistan army 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).

Waves of violence followed the official end of the war, and some lower-ranking Razakars were killed in reprisals by Bengali Mukti Bahin militia.^[18] 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 cooperation 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.^[19]

The term "razakar" is used in modern Pakistan in reference to an auxiliary police force: the Police Qaumi Razakars.^[20][21]

Trial

In 2010 the Bangladesh government, led by the Awami League, 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.^[22][23][24]

Several trials were concluded in early 2013: Abul Kalam Azad was convicted of eight charges and sentenced to death in January 2013.^[25] Abdul Quader Mollah was convicted of five of six charges and sentenced to death in December 2013.^[26][27] Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, the Nayeb-e-Ameer of Jamaat, was convicted of eight charges of war crimes and sentenced to death for two of them in February 2013.^[28] However, the trial process has been termed as "politically motivated" by its critics, while the human rights groups recognized the tribunal as falling short of international standards.^[29]

List of war crimes

• Razakar Commander Forkan Mallik and his unit on August 17, 1971 held Golapi Rani Saha and raped her. His unit shot dead Hatem Ali at Kakarbunia and detained his daughter Aleya Begum who was later taken to a detention centre. Which held women prisinors who were raped by Razzakars and Pakistani army personels. He carried out the forceful conversion of Ramani Kundu, Shyam Sundar Kundu and Sunil Kundu, three brothers from Subidkhali Bazar under Mirzaganj on August 15.^[11]

List of well-known razakar

• Ghulam Azam , Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami's East Pakistan in 1971. Died in 2014.
• Motiur Rahman Nizami , chief of Islamic Chhatro Shango, student organization of Jamaat-e-Islami's East Pakistan in 1971.
• Sayed Sazzad Hossain, vice-chancellor of Rajshahi University during 1971, fled after 1971 to Pakistan, then returned in Bangladesh in 1980s and died in Dhaka in 1995.
• G. W. Choudhury, cabinet member of Pakistan government at 1971, later lived in exile and died in New York in 2012.
• Syed Fazlul Karim, Chormonai pir, remained pir after liberation of Bangladesh
• Khan A Sabur, from Khulna
• Shah Azizur Rahman, appointed prime minister of independent Bangladesh by Ziaur Rahman in 1978

Currently in Pakistan

The Razakars in Pakistan now operate as the Police Qaumi Razakars and aid the police in their duties.^[20][21]

See also

• Peace Committee
• Al-Badr
• Fazlul Qadir Chaudhry
• International Crimes Tribunal Timeline
• Bangladesh 1971
• Rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War
• Timeline of the Bangladesh War
• 1971 Bangladesh atrocities
• Chuknagar massacre
• 1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals
• 1971 Dhaka University massacre
• Akhira massacre
• Bakhrabad massacre
• Burunga massacre
• Shankharipara massacre
• Jinjira massacre
• 1970 Bhola cyclone
• The Concert for Bangladesh, the first major benefit concert

References

External links

• Razakars in training watched by Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi
• Razakars complete their training

Further reading

• 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.