Amidst Bangladesh’s quota reform movement, why the term ‘Razakar’ has provoked unprecedented fury

Presently in Bangladesh, a third of these government posts are kept for the children of those who fought to win the country’s independence in 1971. Some of these posts are also reserved for women, ethnic minorities and the disabled.

During a press conference at Hasina’s residence on July 14, when the prime minister was asked about the student protests, she responded, saying: “If the grandchildren of freedom fighters do not receive (quota) benefits, who would get it? The grandchildren of Razakars?”

Angered by the statement, the protesting students shot back: “Tui ke? Ami ke? Razakar, Razakar! (Who are you? Who am I? Razakar, Razakar!)”.

The history of the Razakars

Hasina’s remark was a sarcastic, rhetorical question, asking whether the grandchildren of Razakars should get quota benefits when it comes to jobs in Bangladesh, says an Awami League supporter interviewed for this report, requesting anonymity. But it further triggered anger among students, escalating an already tense situation.

The term ‘Razakar’ is considered to be derogatory in the country and is associated with atrocities committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War, also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971.

In what was then East Pakistan, the Pakistan Armed Forces, backed by radical Islamists, created three main militias to suppress civil liberties, civil disobedience, target freedom fighters, and terrorise civilians: the Razakars, the al-Badr and the al-Shams. These militia groups, with the support of the Pakistan Armed Forces, subjected Bengalis to genocidal rape, torture, murder and forced deportation, among other forms of violence and abuse.

“The word is actually ‘Rezakar’ and it can be traced to Hyderabad (modern-day India). They were essentially ‘volunteers’,” said Dr Muntasir Mamoon, Bangabandhu Chair at Bangladesh’s Chittagong University, a leading expert on the Bangladesh Liberation War and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh.

In India, the Rezakars were a paramilitary volunteer force and home guard in the princely state of Hyderabad that resisted integration with India post-1947. A brainchild of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Bahadur Yar Jung, the Rezakars grew under the leadership of Qasim Rizvi. In 1948, after the defeat of the Rezakars in Operation Polo by the Indian Armed Forces, Rizvi was forced to emigrate to Pakistan.

In May 1971, Maulana Abul Kalam Muhammad Yusuf, a senior member of the Jamaat-e-Islami, formed the first team of Razakars with 96 members of the Jamaat in Khulna. “In Bengali, the term ‘Rezakar’ became ‘Razakar’. The Razakar comprised Biharis and poor people who were socio-economically deprived. They became informants for the Pakistan Army and had weapons to fight against the Mukti Joddha (pro-independence freedom fighters). Among the Anti-Liberation forces, there were many groups and the Razakars were one,” said Dr. Mamoon.

The Biharis were Urdu-speaking migrants who had migrated to East Pakistan between 1946-1947. They supported the Pakistan Armed Forces and maintained a pro-Pakistan stance, opposing the independence of Bangladesh, as well as the language movement of the Bengali Muslims.

The term ‘Razakar’ is considered to be a derogatory term in the country and is associated with atrocities committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War, also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971. (Reuters)

In her book ‘Gambling with Violence: State Outsourcing of War in Pakistan and India’ (2019), Yelena Biberman, quoting a former Razakar, writes, “Many of the poor and illiterate soldiers that fought for the West Pakistan army believed the religious motive and believed they were fighting for Islam.”

Appropriating an iconic slogan

“Razakar is a word historically associated with Bangladesh,” said A K M Wahiduzzaman, Information and Technology Affairs Secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the country’s main Opposition party headed by Khaleda Zia.

While the al-Badr targeted the intelligentsia, said Wahiduzzaman, the al-Shams were largely recruited from rural madrasas and focused on protecting vital civic structures like bridges and engaging in terrorism. According to US intelligence reports cited by Biberman, the Pakistan government deliberately recruited people for membership to the al-Shams who were “the most deeply orthodox Muslims in the rural villages…with fierce loyalty to Islam and equally anti-Hindu feelings”. Most of the al-Badr comprised members of the student wing of Jamaat, the Islami Jamiat al-Tulabah. The al-Badr would work as a clandestine force till its existence came to light in December 1971, just as the provisional government of Bangladesh headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was about to win the war, writes Biberman.

In the protests of 2024, the slogan used by students “Tui ke? Ami ke? Razakar, Razakar! (Who are you? Who am I? Razakar, Razakar!)”, to taunt Hasina, has been appropriated from an iconic slogan that was used by Bangladeshi freedom fighters during their fight for independence from Pakistan. Between 1968-19791, Bengali freedom fighters and political leaders came up with several slogans against Pakistan, its Armed Forces and its enablers.

Among them was the iconic “Tumi Ke Ami Ke, Bangali, Bangali (Who are you? Who am I? Bengali, Bengali!)”, to assert their own identity and independence against Pakistani oppression and to inspire and encourage civilians during the country’s freedom struggle. According to writings on Bangladesh’s independence history, this iconic slogan was created by Bangladeshi students sometime in 1969, to foster a sense of Bengali consciousness, unity and nationalism; the slogan continues to evoke strong sentiments in the country and has been previously used by protestors in Bangladesh’s post-Independence history.

For instance, in 2013, during the Shahbag protests in Bangladesh, that were a result of calls to execute Abdul Quader Mollah, a Bangladeshi Islamist leader convicted of committing war crimes during the Liberation War of Bangladesh, this iconic slogan was used by protestors in its original form.

A provocative word

Some five decades after Bangladesh achieved independence from Pakistan, the term ‘Razakar’ continues to provoke. “Even now, if you are the son of a Razakar, people will say ‘you are a Razakar’s son’. But even a poor man whose father was a freedom fighter will say that he is the son of a hero with pride and will be admired. Calling ‘Razakar’ a slur is a mild adjective for the actual connotation,” explained Dr. Mamoon. The term ‘Razakar’ is not a badge of honour in modern-day Bangladesh in the context of its pre-independence history, experts interviewed for this report said.

The protesting students, already angry with the Hasina government, only became more enraged after hearing the term ‘Razakar’ in the PM’s July 14 address. In protest, they came up with several different slogans to deride Hasina’s statement:

While one was: “Tui ke? Ami ke? Razakar, Razakar!” (“Who are you? Who am I? Razakar, Razakar!”)

Another was: “Chaite gelam odhikar, hoye gelam Razakar.” (“I went to ask for rights; instead became a Razakar.”)

Soon after, at the signing ceremony of the Annual Performance Agreements for the 2024-25 fiscal year at the Prime Minister’s Office in Dhaka, Hasina addressed the new set of slogans where the word ‘Razakar’ was used by the protestors, calling them “regrettable”.

The newspaper quoted Hasina saying that it was “most unfortunate” to hear the “slogan from the girls that they are ‘Razakars’ despite the fact that the women were badly raped by the Razakars during the War of Liberation in 1971”. (AP)

“They don’t feel ashamed to call themselves Razakars…They do not know how the Pakistani occupation forces and Razakar Bahini had resorted to torture in the country—they did not see the inhuman torture and bodies lying on the roads. So, they don’t feel ashamed to call themselves Razakar,” she said.

“Our only target is to establish the spirit of the Liberation War. Hundreds of thousands of martyrs shed blood while hundreds of thousands of our mothers and sisters were raped. We won’t forget their contribution. We have to keep it in mind,” Hasina said.

She pointed to her government’s work in addressing war crimes committed during Bangladesh’s freedom struggle, saying that her government had taken “legal action against the war criminals, who were involved in mass killing, looting, the violation of women, forming the Razakar Bahini and Peace Committee and giving these Bahinis firearms,” a report by Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo said.

The newspaper quoted Hasina saying that it was “most unfortunate” to hear the “slogan from the girls that they are ‘Razakars’ despite the fact that the women were badly raped by the Razakars during the War of Liberation in 1971”.

“I felt sorry when I heard yesterday the students of Ruqayyah Hall calling themselves Razakars. Do they know what had taken place there on 25 March, 1971? Some 300 girls were killed and 40 girls were raped and taken to the Pakistani camps,” Prothom Alo quoted PM Sheikh Hasina saying.

According to the report, Hasina said the women students using the slogans calling themselves ‘Razakar’ had not witnessed the violence and oppression of 1971 carried out by the Pakistani occupation forces. “So, they don’t feel ashamed of calling themselves Razakars,” PM Hasina was quoted saying.

The use of the word ‘Razakar’ by Sheikh Hasina was irresponsible, said Wahiduzzaman. It was also misunderstood by the protesting students, said an Awami League supporter interviewed for this report, who requested anonymity. “Sheikh Hasina was not calling the students Razakar,” the Awami League supporter said.

The complex history of the Liberation War is not a subject that many are familiar with in Bangladesh today, said Dr. Mamoon. “When students come to the Genocide Museum, they say they did not know much about (history), because the Liberation War has been only studied theoretically,” he explained, speaking about the 1971: Genocide and Torture Archive and Museum in Khulna, where he serves as the chairman of the board of trustees. At the same time, there is understanding, and perhaps a consensus in Bangladesh, that ‘Razakar’ is akin to verbal abuse.

In modern-day Bangladesh, the protests are a result of severe corruption and a lack of jobs and employment, said Dr. Mamoon. “This is the new generation. They don’t care about the past. Many of the protestors are young and have seen a modern Bangladesh. They have not seen the worst of times,” said Dr. Mamoon, referring to the Occupation and Liberation War years.

Some critics of the Hasina government have implied that the labelling of dissenters and the use of the term ‘Razakar’ appears to be an attempt to paint them as ‘anti-national’, while Awami League supporters have said in interviews with indianexpress.com, that her statements have been misunderstood and intentionally twisted.

“Bangladesh is a country of protests. We have had protests in our country’s history and it has always resulted in change. And the government will have to understand that the youth of Bangladesh has always been important,” said Dr. Mamoon.