It was felt that if we have to win the war we must build up a ‘Mukti Bahini’ in addition to our regular Army. Plans were drawn up to train 1,00,000 youngmen from the refugees to fight. Separate Youth Camps were soon set up and arrangements were made for trainers. While these arrangements were being negotiated with Indian Government we asked our Sector Commanders if they could start the training. Only Major Khaled Mosharraf volunteered to train the boys and also to share his ration with these boys until their ration was arranged. It was this first batch of boys who were first sent inside the country as commandos.
In Agartala Mr. Mahbub Alam Chashi and Mr. Taheruddin Thakur were assisting me full time. In the Office Mr. Taufiq Imam, C S P was made the Secretary General. Hc was D. C. Rangamati but joined liberation struggle and came over to Agartala with us. A kind of regular civilian Government in exile was functioning.
Sadhin Bangla Betar Kendra
Bengali Officers of Radio Pakistan while fleeing to India took with them one 5-kilowatt Transmitter. This was set up in Agartala started functioning as Sadhin Bangla Betar. Prof. Mohd. Khaled, MNA, was put in charge of developing programmes for the broadcast. Since the transmitter was not powerful enough to cover all parts of Bangladesh, we requested the Indian Government to lend us a more powerful transmitter. Eventually a 50-Kilowatt Transmitter was arranged but was set up in Calcuua. So the broadcast shifted from Agartala to Calcutta.
After installation of the Cabinet I went to Calcutta and found that things were not quite organised. I suggested to Syed Nazrul Islam, Mr. Tajuddin and Khondakar Mushtaque Ahamed, that they should set up regular office like a Government. They said they do not have anybody there to help them. I promised to help with Officers from Agartala. The Foreign Minister's Office was then set up on the first floor of Deputy High Commission and Mr. Mahbub Alam was posted there as Foreign Secretary. I sent Mr. Taufiq Imam to be Cabinet Secretary to Mr. Tajuddin and Mr. Asaduzzaman was appointed as Finance Secretary.
I was made “In Charge” of the Eastern Zone and I was given a seal of “Ganaprojatantri Bangladesh Sarkar” with authority to operate all bank account and other funds. Mr. Chashi started contacting all Bengali Officers in Pakistan Embassies asking them to defect and join the exile Government. There was instant response and a large contingent of senior officers in the Washington Embassy was ready to defect. I was then requested by the then Foreign Minister to take over as the first Ambassador of the exile Government to USA and Canada. I left for USA in July, 1971. We took a floor in an office block on Connecticut Avenue which was the first Embassy of the Government of Bangladesh. I was not officially recognized as an Ambassador as they did not recognize Bangladesh but I was allowed to register as a Head of Mission so that I could carryon the political lobbing legally. Although the Government of the United States was a friend of the Government of Pakistan we received tremendous support in the US Press, Congress,
