See also: 1971 Bangladesh atrocities and Razakars (Bangladesh)

In 1971 Bangladesh was a part of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and was called "East Pakistan," as its easternmost province. In the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh, East Pakistan fought against West Pakistan for nine months. During this period, in addition to providing guerrilla training to the freedom fighters, popularly known as Mukti Bahini, India joined the war on December 3, 1971 in support of East Pakistan. Armed conflict ended on December 16, 1971 and resulted in the formation of The Peoples Republic of Bangladesh as a free, secular and independent state.
According to a Nixon administration telegram between United States officials, many atrocities had been committed by the West Pakistan army and their supporters.^[24][25][26] Time reported a high-ranking U.S. official as saying, "It is the most incredible, calculated killing since the days of the Nazis in Poland."^[27] Estimates are that one to three million people were killed, nearly a quarter of a million women were raped, and more than 10 million people fled to India for refuge to escape persecution.^[28][29]
A paramilitary force called Razakars was created during the struggle under the Razakar Ordinance promulgated in May 1971 by the Governor of East Pakistan, Lieutenant General Tikka Khan. The Ordinance stipulated the creation of a voluntary force to be trained and equipped by the Provincial Government.^[30] The term razakar (Bengali: রাজাকার) comes from رضاکار razākār, the Urdu word for "volunteer". However, the word became a derogatory term in the Bengali language due to the violence and atrocities committed by the paramilitary force during the war. The perpetrators of the crimes were never brought to trial, as Bangladesh needed to bargain with Pakistan for the return of 200,000 Bengalis stranded in Pakistan at the end of the war.^[31]
The majority of East Pakistanis supported the call to create a free and independent Bangladesh during the Liberation War. But a small number of pro-Pakistanis, as well as members of a number of different fundamentalist political parties, particularly Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) and its student wing Islami Chatra Sangha (ICS, Bengali: ইসলামী ছাত্র সঙ্ঘ Islami Chhatro Shônggho), Muslim League, Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) Council Muslim League, Nejam-e-Islami joined and collaborated with the Pakistani army to resist the formation of independent Bangladesh. The students belonging to Islami Chatra Sangha were called the Al-Badr force, the people belonging to Jamaat-e-Islami, Muslim League, Nizam-e-Islami, etc. were called Al-Shams and the Urdu-speaking people, generally known as Bihari, were called.
editor_tahmidkhan