Who are you? Who am I? Razakar!: Explaining the war cry in the Bangladesh protests and Razakar’s role in 1971

“Who are you? Who am I? Razakar, Razakar!” chanted across Bangladesh as thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the allocation of government jobs that led to the deaths of over 100 people.

The violence in Bangladesh has forced the government to impose a curfew and send the military into the streets to maintain law and order.

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The death toll from violence has risen to 115.

Due to the ongoing violence, over 800 Indian students have returned to the country. Till Friday, 778 Indian students returned through various land ports. On Saturday, 186 more people, including 98 from Nepal and 88 from India, returned to India through the Dawki Integrated Check Post in West Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya.

Who are the Razakars?

In Bangladesh, the term “Razakar” is considered derogatory. The slogan, which was chanted by students, started after Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that those who opposed job quotas for relatives of freedom fighters were the “Razakar”.

Razakar means “volunteer” or “helper” in Persian and Urdu. They are said to have worked with the Pakistani army in the 1971 War of Independence.

According to anthropologist Nayanika Mookherjee, it is being used for abusive purposes, reported the Indian Express.

The article mentioned that the Razakars mostly consisted of Urdu-speaking Bihari Muslims and religious parties that opposed the separation of East and West Pakistan, such as Jamaat-e-Islami, Al Badr and Al Shams.

In another article, Dr. Muntasir Mamoon, Bangabandhu Chair at Chittagong University in Bangladesh, explained that the word is actually “Rezakar” and can be traced back to Hyderabad (present-day India).

Mamoon told Express that the term “Rezakar” had become “Razakar” in Bengali: “They became informers for the Pakistan Army and had weapons to fight against the Mukti Joddha (pro-independence freedom fighters). There were many groups among the anti-liberation forces and the Razakars were one of them.”

In 2019, Bangladesh published a list of 10,789 Razakars who collaborated with the Pakistani armed forces, Pakistan’s The stands.

The report said that AKM Yusuf, a leading figure of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, is believed to be the founder of the Razakar force. He was arrested in May 2013 and charged with crimes against humanity, but died of cardiac arrest in custody in 2014.

According to an India Today report, the Razakars – a regional paramilitary force recruited by General Tikka Khan and composed mostly of pro-Pakistan Bengalis and Biharis – assisted the Pakistani military in raids, mass rapes and murders, torture and arson during the 1971 Bangladesh War.

Protests in Bangladesh

Protests in Bangladesh began after the Supreme Court reinstated a 30% job quota for the descendants of freedom fighters and continued despite Bangladesh’s top court lifting the order for a month last week.

According to Reuters, experts also attribute the unrest to stagnating employment growth in the private sector, which makes public sector jobs, with their regular pay increases and privileges, very attractive.

Quotas reduce the number of vacancies in the public sector for everyone, which harms applicants who want to fill the positions on the basis of their merit.

Government defends

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina defended the quota system, arguing that veterans deserved the highest respect for their contributions to the war, regardless of their political affiliation.

Citing Law Minister Anisul Huq, AP reported that the government was open to discussions on the student leaders’ demands.

The main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has announced that it will organize its own demonstrations, but it said its supporters were not responsible for the violence and that the party does not support acts of sabotage for political reasons.

Several police officers injured

Police spokesman Faruk Hossain told AFP that at least 150 police officers had been hospitalized. He added that two police officers had been beaten to death while another 150 received first aid. “The protesters set fire to many police stations… Many government buildings were set on fire and vandalized.”