ঃঃঃঃ চল বহুদূরে...নির্জনে আড়ালে লুকোই...ঃঃঃ Early initiatives with Shanti Committee During the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, Azam played a central role in the formation of Peace Committees, which declared the independence movement to be a conspiracy hatched by India. Azam was one of the founding members of this organization. After Operation Searchlight, Pakistani forces lost control of Bangladesh. To help control this situation the Pakistan Army set up a network of peace committees superimposed upon the normal civil administration as the army could not rely upon the local Bengali administration. The Peace Committee members were drawn from Azam's Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim League and Biharis. The Peace Committee served as a front for the army, informing on the civil administration as well as the general public. They were also in charge of confiscating and redistribution of shops and lands from Hindu and pro-independence Bengalis, mainly relatives and friends of Mukti Bahini fighters. Almost 10 million Bangladeshis fled to neighboring India as refugees. The Shanti Committee also recruited Razakars, who were common criminals who had thrown their lots with the army. On April 12, 1971, Azam and Matiur Rahman Nizami led demonstrations denouncing the independence movement as an Indian conspiracy. Forming Razakars and Al-Badr During Azam's leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami, Ashraf Hossain, a leader of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha, created the Al-Badr militia in Jamalpur District on 22 April 1971. Current Jamaat Ameer (supreme leader) Matiur Rahman Nizami was the supreme commander of this militia. Nizami was a leader of Islami Chhatra Shongha then. Also, in May, 1971, another Jamaat leader Mawlana Yusuf, a subordinate to Azam, created the Razakar militia in Khulna. The first recruits included 96 Jamaat party members, who started training in an Ansar camp at Shahjahan Ali Road, Khulna. Late anti-independence activities During the war Azam traveled the then West Pakistan to consult the Pakistani leaders. On June 20, 1971, Azam declared in Lahore that the Hindu minority in East Pakistan, under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, are conspiring to secede from Pakistan. He also said in Rawalpindi that the actions of the Pakistan Army in Operation Searchlight were justified in order to preserve the unity of the country. Azam declared that his party (Jamaat) is trying its best to curb the activities of pro-independence "Miscreants". Azam took part in meetings with General Yahiya Khan, the military dictator of Pakistan, and other military leaders, to organize the campaign against Bangladeshi independence. On August 12, 1971, Azam declared in a statement published in the Daily Sangram that "the supporters of the so-called Bangladesh Movement are the enemies of Islam, Pakistan, and Muslims". The military junta of Yahya Khan decided to call an election in an attempt to legitimise themselves. So, on October 12, 1971 Yahya Khan declared that an election will be held from November 25 to December 9. Ghulam Azam decided to take part in this election. On October 15, the Pakistani government suddenly declared that 15 candidates were elected without any competition. According to the declaration of November 2 as many as 53 candidates were elected without any competition. In this election Azam's Jamaat won 14 of the uncontested seats. Fleeing from Bangladesh Ghulam Azam wrote some of his activities of 9 months of the war in his biography Jibone Ja Dekhlam (What I have seen in life). According to his book, Azam claims that he was on way to Dhaka from West Pakistan on 3 December when midway through the flight, the plane changed direction to Saudi Arabia because of the formation of India-Bangladesh joint force against Pakistan. A few weeks later East Pakistan emerged as newly independent country Bangladesh and Ghulam Azam along with his political party Jamaat-e-Islami was banned by new country's government and Azam's Bangladesh citizenship was cancelled.[citation needed] However, New York Times reported that Azam left East Pakistan due to his opposition to the independence movement. Anti-Bangladesh Lobbying after 1971 After the victory of the Joint forces of the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini over Pakistan on 16 December 1971 a new nation named Bangladesh was born. Azam continued his anti-Bangladesh and pro-Pakistan activities even after 1971. He tried to convince many political leaders of Middle-East and Pakistan not to support the new born nation. A complete description of these lobbies are found in the writings of Dhaka University Professor Anisuzzaman. Anisuzzaman submitted all the allegations against Ghulam Azam to the People's Court in 1992. People's Court was established as a mass movement to try war criminals and anti-independence activists by Jahanara Imam and others. Jahanara Imam held this unprecedented Peoples' Court as a symbolic trial of Ghulam Azam where thousands of people gathered and the court gave verdict that Azam's offenses committed during the Liberation War deserved capital punishment. According to Prothom Alo, three intellectuals submitted allegations of war crimes against Ghulam Azam. The activities regarding Bengali culture were submitted by Syed Shamsul Huq, alleged war crimes during 1971 were detailed by Borhanuddin Khan Jahangir and his pro-Pakistan lobbying after 1971 was detailed by Anisuzzaman. Notable pro-Pakistan lobbying of Ghulam Azam after 1971 are as follows: After the liberation of Bangladesh Azam, staying in Pakistan, created an organization named Purbo Pakistan Punoruddhar Committee (East Pakistan Revival Committee) along with anti-Bangladesh activists like Mahmud Ali. Azam tried to strengthen the international movement to re-establish East Pakistan. Accordingly he kept claiming himself as the Ameer of East Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami many years after the elimination of East Pakistan. In 1972, Azam formed Purbo Pakistan Punoruddhar Committee in London and conspired with others to replace Bangladesh with East Pakistan. In 1973, he lectured against Bangladesh in the annual conference of Federation of Students' Islamic Societies held in Manchester and conference of UK Islamic Commission held in Lester[disambiguation needed ]. In 1974, he arranged a meeting of Purbo Pakistan Punoruddhar Committee with Pakistanis like Mahmud Ali. As they had already failed to establish a Pakistan within Bangladesh, they decided to lead their movement towards the formation of a confederation combining Bangladesh and Pakistan. In this meeting Azam explained the necessity of working for the movement within Bangladesh though it was a bit risky then. In, 1977 in a meeting held in the Holy Trinity Church College, Azam expressed it again. He came to Bangladesh in 1978 with a Pakistani passport and Bangladeshi visa only to make his dream of Pakistan-Bangladesh confederation come true. Ghulam Azam participated in the International Islamic Youth Conference held in Riyad in 1972 and begged the help of all Muslim countries to re-establish East Pakistan. From 1973 to 1976 he met Saudi King seven times and asked him not to acknowledge Bangladesh and never to help this country by any means. He lectured against Bangladesh again in the international conference arranged by Rabeta-e-Alam Al-Islami in Mecca in 1974 and at King Abdul Aziz University in 1977. Azam lobbied against the acknowledgment of new born Bangladesh in the conference of Foreign ministers of the Muslim countries held in Benghazi in 1973. In the same year he lectured in the Islamic Youth Conference held in Tripoli which was clearly against the independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh. In 1973 Ghulam Azam urged everybody to participate in the movement of combining Bangladesh with Pakistan in the annual conference of Muslim Students' Association of America and Canada held at Michigan State University. Azam lectured against Bangladesh again in 1977, in the international conference of Islamic Federation of Students' Organizations held at Istanbul.