' Razakar' is an infamous word, because of its association with rape and killings in Hyderabad and East Pakistan. The word is derived from Arabic and means 'volunteer' and has an ancient past. Razakars were soldiers who fought alongside Mohammed, the prophet during the days when he was under siege. The Razakars made an appearance in East Pakistan during the time when the Bengali population were agitating for their rights in the old composite state of Pakistan.
It is important to understand that Pakistan was created on the basis of the 'two nation ' theory of Jinnah. In effect it meant a separate homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent. The state of Pakistan was created with 2 distinct areas separated by 1500 miles of Indian territory. It consisted of West Pakistan which was Punjabi and Urdu speaking and East Pakistan which was Bengali speaking. These two regions had nothing in common except Islam and their was wide disparity in language , culture and economy between the two parts. This anachronism led to an agitation in East Pakistan for autonomy and greater division of resources.
In 1970 the agitation in East Pakistan spearheaded by the Awami League, a regional party headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gathered steam. The President of Pakistan General Yahya Khan, ordered a crackdown and appointed General Tikka Khan as governor and Lt General AK Niazi as commander of the East Pakistan army. At that time the Pakistan army was at a loss to maintain law and order as it had to man the border with India. The Bengali population had formed a small revolutionary group called the 'Mukti Bahini' to press for freedom for East Pakistan. This group was being actively aided by the Indian army with its special forces operating deep in East Pakistan to help the Mukti Bahini.
General Tikka Khan promulgated an ordinance on 01 June 1971 called the East Pakistan Razakar Ordinance. By this he created a irregular militia to help the Pakistan army. Recruitment was voluntary, but the men who joined were mostly Bihari Muslims and local Bengali Muslim sympathisers of Pakistan. These Razakars were armed and given some military training by the Pakistan army. The Razakars were commanded by Major General Mohammed Jamshed. The Razakar strength rose to almost 100,000 in a month and they were divided into brigades of 3000-4000 men.
Instructions were passed to the Razakars to 'weed out' the anti Pakistani people and suitably deal with them. The Razakars began to roam the country side and started a campaign of terror. They began a policy of rape and indiscriminate killing under the aegis of the Pakistan army. They were particularly severe on Hindus, many of who were killed and the girls abducted and taken to their camps and raped. They also did not spare Muslims and it was common for a group of Razakars to enter a village and kill a few people who they felt were supporters of the Awami league and carry away young Muslim girls. A classified secret US report mentioned that the Razakars were creating anarchy by their actions of rape and killings.
This state of affairs continued till December 1971, when special units of the Indian army special forces operating in East Pakistan began to kill the Razakars in encounters. An exasperated Yahya Khan ordered a airstrike in the West on 3 December 1971.This was the signal for 5 divisions of the Indian army under General Sagat Singh to enter East Pakistan in a pincer action from 4 directions.The Razakars who initially engaged the indian army, were no match and hundreds were shot dead. Morale of the Razakars began to ebb and large scale desertions began to take place.As the army advanced thousands were killed by the Mukti Bahini as reprisals for their part in raping and killing the locals.
On 16 december the East Pakistan army under general Niazi surrendered and 36,000 Razakars were captured by the Mukti Bahini. The curtain had come down on the infamous Razakars.The Razakars were banned and a sordid chapter in Bangladesh history ended.