What is Al-Badr (East Pakistan)?
{{No sources|date=May 2020}} '''Al-Badar''' (আল বদর) was a [[paramilitary]] force formed in [[Bangladesh#History|East Pakistan]] in 1971 by the national [[Pakistan Army]]. '''Al-Badar''' means '''The Battlefield of Badar'''. The politics of the force were intermingled with [[jihad]], the religious war or [[holy war]] of [[Muhammad]] 1400 years earlier. However, the war between Pakistan and Bengali separatists was a nationalistic war, not a religious one. ==Background== On March 27, 1971, after beginning the Pakistani [[Civil War]], [[Pakistani military]] forces needed military support from [[Bengali people|Bengali nationalists]] supporters who still wanted to be part of Pakistan, or did not like Indian involvement in the movement; as well as the non-Bengali [[muhajirs]] in order to abolish the independence fighters of Bangladesh, the [[Mukti Bahini]], [[Hemayet Bahini]] and Kaderiya Bahini. The '''Al Badar''' were formed to find these independence fighters and to be guides as well as co-fighters who were familiar with the local terrain. The force was composed of madrasa students and teachers, Bengali supporters of Muslim League and Jamaat E Islami, and ''muhajirs'' coming from non-Bengali part of [[India]]. There were three type of Paramilitary forces Pakistan formed, '''1.Razakars:''' refuges who were came from other parts of India during separation of India and Pakistan, and settled in East Pakistan. '''2. Al-Badar:''' Bengali Muslim Students from Colleges, universities and madrasah, who were loyal to Jamat-e-islami.<br />'''3. Al-Shams:''' Bengali Madrasah Students, teachers & supporters of Islamic parties other than Jamat-E-Islami (these smaller parties included Nejam-e-Islami and various factions of Muslim League). Al-Badar was a very organized par military force among those three forces, with their own hierarchy of organization and reporting system. ==Tasks== The Al Badar were given a variety of combat and non-combat tasks including: *Taking part in the operations *Spying against [[Mukti Bahini