The Razakar (Bengali: রাজাকার) was the paramilitary force organized by the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.
The Urdu word razakar (رضا کار) literally means "volunteer" but it became a disgraceful term in the Bengali language due to the shameful acts of betrayal to the homeland and the atrocities the Razakars committed and/or facilitated during the war. The perpetrators of the crimes were never brought to book and this left an unfathomable abrasion on the country's political awareness and the nation as a whole. The Razakar force was composed of mostly pro-Pakistani Bengalis and Urdu-speaking migrants living in erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).[1] Razakars were associated with many of the atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army during the 9-month war (see 1971 Bangladesh atrocities).
The Razakar force was created under the Razakar Ordinance promulgated in May 1971 by the Governor of East Pakistan, Lieutenant General Tikka Khan The Ordinance stipulates the creation of a voluntary force to be trained and equipped by the Provincial Government.
Together with the Al-Badr and Al-Shams paramilitary forces, the Razakar were under Pakistani Army command .In September 1971, the Razakar force was placed under the command of Major General Mohammed Jamshed. Organisational command of the Razakar was given to Abdur Rahim who was trained at the Office of Public Safety, then part of USAID (Abdur Rahim was to become Secretary to the President in Bangladesh in 1973, during the post-independence rule of Mujibur Rahman's Awami League). 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. Usually such suspects were often tortured to death in custody. The Razakars were trained in the conventional army fashion by the Pakistan Army. While formed as a paramilitary group, the Razakars served as the local guides for the Pakistan army, and together, both organisations were increasingly violating all Geneva Conventions of War and raping, murdering and looting the locals.
Towards the end of 1971, increasing numbers of Razakars were deserting, as the sense of imminent loss in the war was setting in..
Following the surrender of the West Pakistan army on 16 December 1971 and the proclamation of independence of Bangladesh, the Razakar units were dissolved. Most of the leading Razakars, fled to Pakistan (previously West Pakistan). Many of the lower ranking Razakars who remained in Bangladesh were killed in the course of reprisals immediately after the end of fighting while as many as 36,000 were imprisoned. Of the latter many were later freed mainly because of pressure from US and China who backed Pakistan in the war, and because Pakistan was holding 200,000 Bengali speaking military and civilian personnel who were stranded in West Pakistan during the war.
In 2010 Bangladesh government set up a tribunal to prosecute the people involved in alleged war crimes and those who collaborated with Pakistan. According to the Government, the defendants would be charged with Crimes against humanity, genocide, murder, rape and arson.
The word রাজাকার razakar today carries the meaning "traitor" in common Bangladeshi Bengali parlance, similar to the usage of the word Quisling after the Second World War.
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