Razakar (Pakistan)

The Razakar (Bengali: রাজাকার; Urdu: رضا کار‎, literally "volunteer") was a paramilitary force organized by the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

Since the 1971 war, it has become a pejorative term in Bangladesh due to the many suspected atrocities which the Razakars committed and/or facilitated during the war. The Razakar force was composed of mostly pro-Pakistan Bengalis and Urdu-speaking migrants who lived in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) at the time. At the present time, in Bangladesh, razakar means all pro-Pakistani Bangladeshis who helped the Pakistan army and tried to prevent the independence of Bangladesh.

Creation

The East Pakistan Razakar Ordinance promulgated on 1 June 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. This was to add to the government's forces to suppress the rebellion of people who wanted independence for the region. It is also alleged that Razakars were recruited by the Shanti Committee, which was formed by several pro-Pakistani leaders including Nurul Amin, Ghulam Azam and Khwaja Khairuddin. The first recruits included 96 Jamaat party members, who started training in an Ansar camp at Shahjahan Ali Road, Khulna.

Pakistan

Coordinates: 30°N 70°E / 30°N 70°E / 30; 70

Pakistan (ⁱ/ˈpækᵻstæn/ or ⁱ/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاكستان‎ ALA-LC: Pākistān, pronounced [pɑːkɪst̪ɑːn]), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاكستان‎ ALA-LC: Islāmī Jumhūriyah Pākistān IPA: [ɪslɑːmiː d͡ʒʊmɦuːriəɪh pɑːkɪst̪ɑːn]), is a country in South Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 199 million people. It is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of area with an area covering 881,913 km² (340,509 sq mi). Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast respectively. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and also shares a maritime border with Oman.

The territory that now constitutes Pakistan was previously home to several ancient cultures, including the Mehrgarh of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including Hindus, Indo-Greeks, Muslims, Turco-Mongols, Afghans and Sikhs. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, Alexander of Macedonia, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the subcontinent's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of the Subcontinent where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.

Paristan (film)

Paristan (Land of Fairies) is a Bollywood fantasy film. It was released in 1944. The film was directed by Mahesh Kaul for Acharya Art productions. It starred Pahari Sanyal, Anjali Devi, Kamal Zamindar, Sunalini Devi, Moni Chatterjee and Padma Bannerjee. The music was composed by Ninu Majumdar and the lyrics were by Roopdas and Ninu Majumdar. This was Mahesh Kaul's second film after Angoori (1943).

Cast

Soundtrack

The film had ten songs with music composed by Ninu Majumdar and the lyrics written by Majumdar and Roopdas. The soundtrack label was Columbia Records.

Song List

References

External links

Dominion of Pakistan

The Dominion of Pakistan (Bengali: পাকিস্তান অধিরাজ্য pakistan ôdhirajyô; Urdu: مملکتِ پاکستان‎ mumlikāt-ē pākistān), commonly called Pakistan, was an independent federal dominion in South Asia that was established in 1947 on the Partition of India into two sovereign countries (the other being the Dominion of India). The dominion, which included much of modern-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, was conceived under the two-nation theory as a home for the Muslims of the former British India. To begin with it did not include the princely states of Pakistan, which acceded slowly between 1947 and 1948. In 1956 it became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; and in 1971 East Pakistan seceded from the union to become Bangladesh.

Partition of British India

Section 1 of the Indian Independence Act 1947 provided that from "the fifteenth day of August, nineteen hundred and forty-seven, two independent dominions shall be set up in India, to be known respectively as India and Pakistan." India was treated by the United Nations as the successor-state to the former British India. As it was already a member of the United Nations, India continued to hold its seat there and did not apply for a new membership. However, Pakistan was a newly created nation and needed to apply to join. It was admitted as a UN member on 30 September 1947, a few weeks after its independence The British monarch became head of state of the new dominion, with Pakistan sharing a king with the other Commonwealth realms, but the monarch's constitutional roles were delegated to the Governor-General of Pakistan, and most real power resided with the new government headed by Jinnah.