The horror of Razakars haunts Bangladesh again

The ongoing riots and protests in Bangladesh have resulted in the deaths of about 150 protestors, and more than 2,500 people have so far been injured. In the ongoing protests, apart from street rioting and vandalism, the protestors torched the office of state-run Bangladesh Television in Dhaka, attacked the former Mayor of Ghazipur, Jahangir Alam, killed his bodyguard, and attacked a jail in Narsingdi District and freed hundreds of inmates before setting it on fire.

The entire issue of the quota system in government jobs has taken the country by storm, as the protestors, mostly students, are demanding jobs on the basis of merit and not quota. After the Liberation War (Mukti Judhho) of Bangladesh, the quota system was announced in 1972 and has been altered numerous times since then. The system reserved 56 per cent of government jobs for several categories: 30 per cent for freedom fighters (Mukti Jodhha), 10 per cent for women, 10 per cent for underdeveloped districts, five per cent for minorities and one per cent for the disabled. After a series of student protests, the government scrapped the quota system for 9th–13th grade government jobs in 2018.

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These riots are happening because the High Court, on June 5, ordered the restoration of the quota system, keeping 30 per cent of government jobs for family members of freedom fighters and veterans of the 1971 War of Independence. The 27-page verdict was published on July 14. According to it, the government can reform the quota if it wants. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court, on July 10, suspended the High Court’s order for a month and was set to hear the government’s challenge on August 7. However, due to the intensity of violence on the road, the Supreme Court preponed its verdict on July 21, curtailing the quota of Mukti Jodhha’s family from 30 per cent to 5 per cent, with 93 per cent of positions now to be filled on merit. The remaining two per cent is to be assigned to people with disability, ethnic minorities, and transgender individuals. It has also urged student protesters to return to class.

Still, a Bangladeshi student group, Students Against Discrimination, is continuing to protest. “We won’t call off our protests until the government issues an order reflecting our demands,” stated the spokesman of this group.

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The pretext for the entire protest turning violent was the July 14 press conference of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in which she asked the people of her country:

“Why there is so much of resentment against Mukti Juddho and Mukti Jodhha? Are the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters not talented? Are only the children and grandchildren of Razakars talented? If the grandchildren of the freedom fighters don’t get quota benefits, should the grandchildren of Razakars get the benefit? This is my question to the people of this country. What is the fault of Mukti Jodhha? They selflessly fought for the freedom of this country… Otherwise those who are protesting today would be subjected to kicks of Pakistanis.”

After that, on July 15, a procession was organised at Dhaka University, chanting – “Tui ke? Ami ke? Razakar, Razakar! Ke boleche, ke boleche, sairachar- sairachar.” “Who are you? Who am I? Razakar, Razakar! Who says that who says that, dictator, dictator!” Soon, students from all over Bangladesh and rioters joined this ‘Razakar-based protest’.

Razakar, or ‘volunteer’ or ‘helper’ in Persian and Urdu, consisted mainly of pro-Pakistani Bengalis and Biharis in East Pakistan who were against the independence of East Pakistan and Mukti Jodhha. An estimated 50,000 Razakars helped the Pakistani army. The Razakars, along with radical religious militias like Al-Badr and Al-Shams, targeted civilians, students, intellectuals, and religious minorities who fought for the liberation of Bangladesh. The brutal action against pro-Liberation Bangladeshis by the Pakistani military with the aid of Razakars led to the deaths of anywhere between 300,000 and 3 million (30 lakh) civilians, the rape of 100,000 to 400,000 women, and 25,000 to 195,000 forced pregnancies. In Bangladesh, the term ‘Razakar’ is used as an abuse. It has come to mean ‘collaborator’ and is linked with betrayal in the country.

Al-Badr was created by Jamaat-e-Islami’s student’s wing, Islami Chhatra Sibir, in East Pakistan. One of the main operations of Al-Badr during the Liberation War was to specifically kill “the intellectual people” (known as Budhijibi in Bengali). The pro-Pakistan combatant groups such as the Al-Badar, Al-Shams, Mujahid, and East Pakistan Civil Armed Force also recruited members from other Islamic groups. The Pakistani Army had enlisted the support of razakars to accomplish their hideous work. These razakars would reach selected addresses and abduct men and women with an armed guard.

The Mukti Jodhhas fought for the dignity of the people of East Pakistan. For recognition of their separate language, identity, culture, and ethos, which were systematically purged by the Pakistani government, favouring the western part.

These young rioters of Dhaka University who are screaming ‘Razakar! Razakar’, it seems, have conveniently forgotten Operation Searchlight, conducted by the Pakistani Army, when contingents of the Punjab Regiment surrounded the university campus and killed over a hundred unarmed students present in the resident halls, murdered 10 professors, then moved on to attack the Hindu areas and the old town on the morning of March 26, 1971. Rocket launchers, LMGs, tanks were used to create havoc and suppress any form of Bengali resistance.

Regrettably, the female students of Rokeya Hall of the Dhaka University, who, in a frenzy, are now calling themselves razakars, are humiliating and mortifying the souls of those female students who were hauled, stripped, beaten, and raped by the Pakistani Army in that very hall on October 7, 1971. The term Birangona (heroines of war) was meant to honour those women. But these female ‘protestors’ seem to have expediently forgotten and expunged them from memory. ‘War was rape’ as popularised in 1971 with the Pakistani Army and Razakar militias raping hundreds of women from Bangladesh.

Approximately 300 girls were recovered from different parts of Dhaka, where they were kept in confinement by Pakistani army men for their ‘entertainment’. Susan Browmiller, the renowned American feminist, argued in her book, “Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape," that what was unique to the Bangladesh Liberation War was that the international community for the first time recognised that systematic rape could be used as a weapon to terrorise people.

The various anti-liberation supporters are right now highly activated in the domain of social media, with derogatory remarks, comments, podcasts, and vlogs about the government. The song ‘Tumi ke ami ke .. Razakar Razakar’ has almost become an anthem for rioters and their sympathisers, and it is getting amplified by the day, much in the line of ‘Hum dekhenge’, as happened during Shaheen Bagh violence and ‘From the River to the Sea’, in the case of the ongoing pro-Hamas unrests.

The continuing narrative on social media is completely anti-Hasina, and one can easily say that the demand for ‘Hasina [to] step down’ has an ulterior political motive. In spite of the Supreme Court’s verdict in favour of the protestors, there is immense hatred and loathing for Hasina and her government, and this movement is more about Sheikh Hasina and her government than quota. It would not be wrong to say that quota-related protests are an excuse to completely demean the role of Mukti Jodhha and the Liberation War, along with damaging the establishment through street violence.

Also, the call of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) exiled Acting Chairman and Khaleda Zia’s eldest son, Tarique Rahman on X provides a clear indication of the political core of these riots. Tarique, in solidarity with the protestors, called upon all leaders, activists, and common people of the pro-democracy political parties, including the BNP, to stand by students, provide them with all support, and carry this movement forward. Moreover, on July 19, police fired tear gas at a few hundred BNP supporters and arrested BNP’s Senior Joint Secretary General, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

As expected in the age of fast dissemination of ‘content’, these anti-establishment riots reached other parts of the world. In the UK, on July 18, in the Whitechapel area of London, with a large Bangladeshi community in Tower Hamlets borough, rocks were thrown and cars were damaged as large groups of men clashed with each other. Also, authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have ordered an investigation and an expedited trial of Bangladeshi nationals arrested for protesting against the Hasina government across the Gulf country.

The irony of these riots is the eulogisation of the war criminals in the name of protesting against the Awami League government. Bringing back the Razakars to national and international discourse, challenging the authority with the excuse of a speech of the Prime Minister, and terrorising those whose families have fought for the freedom of Bangladesh.

The social and political atmosphere of Bangladesh is highly volatile, and even the Supreme Court could not take the chance of announcing the verdict on August 7 and had to expedite it and also present a plea to the students to go back to their classes. Such is the misery of democracy in Bangladesh, where a group of politically motivated rioters can take the establishment for ransom.

The writer is Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management, New Delhi. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.