# Razakars (Pakistan)

The Razakars (Urdu: رضا کار Bengali: রাজাকার, lit. 'Volunteer') were a gendarmerie and paramilitary force in East Pakistan organised by General Tikka Khan in 1971. They were organised as a counter-insurgency force to fight Mukti Bahini militants in the Bangladesh War of Independence, and played an infamous role in the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. The Razakars were disbanded following Pakistan's defeat and surrender in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War.

## Etymology and terminology

Razakar is a Persian term meaning volunteer. The former Bangladesh government denoted all collaborators of the Pakistan forces as Razakars. This includes leaders, members of East Pakistan Central Peace Committee and even the Chakma King, Maharaja Tridev Roy.
In Bangladesh today, Razakar is used as a pejorative term meaning "traitor" or Judas.

## History and organization

In June 1971, the Ansar was disbanded and reconstituted as the Razakars. Initially, they were controlled by the Shanti Committee, which was formed by several pro-Pakistani leaders including Nurul Amin and Khwaja Khairuddin. 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.
The East Pakistan Razakars Ordinance was promulgated on 2 August 1971 by the Governor of East Pakistan, Lieutenant General Tikka Khan. The Ordinance stipulated the creation of a voluntary force to be trained and equipped by the Provincial Government. Then, they were reorganized as members of the Pakistan Army through an ordinance of the Ministry of Defence promulgated on 7 September 1971. The Razakar force was placed under the command of Major General Mohammed Jamshed. Organizational command of the Razakar Bahini was given to Abdur Rahim.
The Razakar force was organised into brigades of around 3,000–4,000 volunteers, mainly armed with light Infantry weapons provided by the Pakistan Army. Each Razakar brigade was attached as an auxiliary to two Pakistan regular army brigades, and their main function was to arrest and detain pro-independence Bengalis and Bengali nationalists. Suspects were tortured during custody and killed. Razakars were trained by the Pakistan Army.
The Razakars were paid by the Pakistan Army and provincial administration. 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. They were advised "to uproot secessionists, antisocialists and Naxalites."
Towards the end of 1971, increasing numbers of Razakars were deserting, as the end of the war approached and East Pakistan moved towards independence.

## War crimes

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. They operated concentration camps and used rape as weapon of war.
The Razakars violated Geneva Conventions of War by participating in numerous massacres of civilians.
The Dakra massacre was an instance of one such massacre where 646 Bengali Hindus were killed.
Razakars allegedly killed Hindu civilians during the war. On 5 August 1971, six Hindus were killed by Razakars in Panti village under Kumarkhali sub-division. They killed 3 Hindus in Sylhet and 19 Hindus in Jessore, Gopalganj and Chittagong hill tracts.

## Genocide

During the Bangladesh genocide of the Bangladesh War of Independence, the Pakistan military and several militia organizations created by the Pakistani military violated Geneva Conventions of War by participating in numerous massacres of civilians, committed genocide of between 300,000 and 3 million civilians, operated concentration camps, and used rape as weapon of war against Bengali Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist minorities. Active collaborators of the Pakistan Military in perpetuation of genocide and ethnic cleansing in East Pakistan include Al Badr, Al Shams, East Pakistan Central Peace Committee, Razakars, Muslim League, Mujahid Bahini. Bangladesh Genocide Remembrance Day honors the victims of genocide.

## Dissolution

Following the surrender of the 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 was accused of opposing 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 Mukti Bahini militia. 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.

## Trials

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 war in 1971. People of Pakistan who were not aware of their crimes due to censorship by the Yahya regime, openly welcomed their trials and even supported their public execution.
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. 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.

### Convicted members

* AKM Yusuf, the alleged lead organiser.
* Forkan Mallik, a Razakar commander, convicted of rapes and forceful conversions in Mirzaganj, Patuakhali.
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 War.

## Use of term in protests

During the 2024 Bangladesh quota reform movement to abolish or change the quota system that gave public benefits to descendants of pro-independence 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.