Razakar (رضا کار) is etymologically an

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

word which literally means volunteer. The word is also common in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...

. On the other hand, in Bangladesh, razakar is a pejorative word meaning a traitor or Judas.

In Pakistan and India

Razakars were an

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

i paramilitary force that aided the Pakistan Army against the

Mukti Bahini The Mukti Bahini ( bn, মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as 'freedom fighters', or liberation army), also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary ...

during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Police Qaumi Razakars are a volunteer force in Pakistan which aids the Police in their duties. In Hyderabad, Razakars were volunteers sponsored by the Nizam's state of Hyderabad for opposition to its merger with India.Moraes, Frank, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mumbai: Jaico. 2007, p.394

In Bangladesh

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken o ...

, razakar is an

ethnic slur The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or ot ...

mainly towards Pakistanis and

Biharis The Biharis () is a demonym given to the inhabitants of the Indian state of Bihar. Bihari people can be separated into three main Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic groups, Bhojpuris, Maithils and Magadhis. They are also further divided into a v ...

: a pejorative term akin to the western term "traitor" or

Judas Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betr ...

. The phrase comes from the East Pakistani paramilitary force (see above) who opposed the freedom of Bangladesh.

References

{{Reflist Arabic words and phrases Bengali words and phrases