The list of Razakars and our thoughts!

Nowadays the word Razakar  is  in common use in Bangladesh  and has become a pejorative term in our everyday conversation , since the war of liberation in 1971 between the then West Pakistan and East Pakistan .The word Razakar is an Arabic origin word literally meaning volunteer. The term  Razakar is also widely used in Urdu Language  as a borrowed word - adopted from foreign language with little or no modification . In the contrast of Bangladesh  Liberation War, due to controversial , disgraceful  and anti-liberation role  of the Razakars ,  the word Razakar became a pejorative term meaning " traitor " .

Razakar --a volunteer or para-military force was created by the then governor of East Pakistan , Lt General Tikka Khan on 01 June , 1971 . The only aim to create such a force was to assist the Pakistan  Army  in carrying out their military operations accurately and successfully beside suppressing the common people and liberation force (mukti bahini) , who were in favour of independence and an independent state under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman . History confirms that Razakars were recruited by the Pakistan Army in collaboration with local members of Shanti committee / Peace committee to aid its sole intention, effort and strength in crushing the liberation force and movement especially freedom fighters .

In the war of liberation 1971, Razakars had two branches, namely Al-Badr and Al-Shams . Students of Islamic institutes madrassas were inducted in Al-Badr to carry out specialized military operations  while Al-Shams were responsible to protect important strategic locations , across the country. The Razakars were trained by Pakistan Army, equipped with light infantry and combat weapons And deployed to important and strategic locations under the direct command of Pakistan Army.The Razakars also served as local guide of Pakistan Army in conducting operations across the country. It is important to note that the Razakars were paid by the then Pakistan provincial government.

The Razakars mainly served as informers, aided Pakistan Army to arrest and detain freedom fighters, find out their locations, identify Bengali suspects in favour of independence of the region. During the liberation war of 1971, the Razakars were collaborators of Pakistan Army and anti-liberation force, conducted arson attack and atrocities, involved and indulged in rape , gang-rape , killing and plundering the local Bengalis . The Hindus were also not spared of brutal torture and atrocities during the liberation war by the Razakars.

In coarse of time the Freedom Fighters gained strength, intensified their attacks on important Pakistan military units and locations, compelled them to surrender 0n 16th December, 1971 . The Razakar units were dissolved following the independence of a new state --Bangladesh .Meantime, many leading Razakars fled to different countries for their suspicious role and anti-liberation involvement.

Razakar issue is a very important and a sensitive issue and the word Razakar is established in Bangladesh as a pejorative term meaning  Traitor  or Bishas Ghatak in Bangla . In preparing and publishing such a sensitive list , one should be more cautious and careful from every corner to defend all sorts of objection in proof and papers , if arises .Today both the ministries - Home affairs and Liberation war affairs  are blaming each other of their involvement  and  proper verification before making the list public . Question naturally arises , why such an incorrect list of Razakars is preserved with Ministry of  Home affairs since , 1971 , why the  incorrect list is forwarded to Ministrfy of Liberation war affairs with a note to verify the information and why an incorrect  list of  10,789  Razakars were made public on 15th day of December , 2019 after 48 years , without further verification and confirmation by concerned and competitive authorities .

It is a shame, a great shame for all of us and the nation  to go in such a debate between a Razakar and a mukti-judda  after 48 years of independence . The role of Razakars in the war of liberation is  distinct and one cannot forget the mass killing and atrocities committed by them across the country . Likely to inform that the then government enacted a law in January , 1972  to punish the Razakars or war criminals . Accordingly, some 37,000 people were arrested and sent to jail . On declaration of general amnesty 26,000 were freed and the rest 11,000 were behind the bars until the successive government released them by scrapping the law.

In order to prepare a correct and a doubt-free list of Razakars, we put our ideas as follows :

1.  The local union parishad chairman , the concerned thana and the upuzilla nirbahi officer should be entrusted to prepare a primary list of Razakars in their jurisdiction.

2. The primary list of Razakars after initial verification by the thana Nirbahi Officer would be submitted to respective district or D.C. office for further verification.

3, The respective DC office would initiate further verification and prepare a secondary list of the Razakars . The authority may display the list at their office or upload at their website for a period not less than 30 days to amend any sort of objection or erroneous inclusion of innocent names within the stipulated period.

4. The respective DC office across the country would submit the secondary list of the Razakars to ministry of home affairs and ministry of liberation war affairs, for further verification and reconciliation with old documents or records  at their procession .

5. Representatives of both the ministries, Home and Liberation War Affairs will sit together to prepare the tertiary or final list of Razakars .

6. The tertiary list , duly signed by respective secretaries would be submitted to the respective ministers for final approval for publishing the list .
7. In preparing such a sensitive list, from first to last everyone should be extremely cautious and careful so that no innocent is harassed out of personal , social , business or political  motive , interest and enmity.

On the top, the government employees and secretaries do not lose their job in any regime being the servants of the republic and so they should be held responsible for preserving , maintaining and virtually publishing the list of Razakars full of doubt and  errors , knowingly or unknowingly thus tarnishing the image and pride of the government and her activities .

Not only that, these patriotic elements and instruments are still existing in this land and are also responsible for issuing  " fake freedom fighters certificate " . We hope, considering the overall situation and its importance the government will take necessary and pragmatic measures to prepare and preserve a neat, clean and correct list of not only Razakars but also Freedom Fighters for the sake of history and future generation.

The writer is a freelance contributor