Al-Badr (East Pakistan)

The Al-Badr was the paramilitary wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) that collaborated with the Pakistan Army against the Bengali nationalist movement in the Bangladesh Liberation War. The present chief of the Jamaat, Maulana Motiur Rahman Nizami headed the Al-Badr organisation as the all-Pakistan Commander in Chief during the war. The group was banned by the independent government of Bangladesh, but most of its members had fled the country during and after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Naming and Inspirations

Al-Badar means The Battlefield of Badar. The politics of the force, were advertised as intermingled with Jihad, the holy war of the Prophet Muhammad 1400 years earlier. However, as the war unfolded it became obvious that the group had malicious intentions that were clearly not in alignment with the Prophet's Sunnah or the Prophet's prescription of what constitutes a legal Jihad. The name Al-Badar was given by major Riaz hussain during the passing out ceremony of first Al-badar group. However, the war between Pakistan and Bangladesh was a nationalistic war, not a religious one.

Background

On 25 March 1971, after beginning the Bangladesh Liberation War, Pakistani military forces required military support from Bengali supporters who still wanted to live with Pakistan, or did not like Indian interaction in the movement; as well as the non-Bengali muhajirs in order to abolish the independence fighters of Bangladesh, the Mukti Bahini,......
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