to run for Parliament as a member of the Awami League. Roy declined Rahman's offering, choosing instead to run in the 1970 general election as an independent. Roy won his election as independent candidate from his constituency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Roy sided with Pakistan in 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, which resulted in Bangladesh's independence. Following the war and Bangladesh's independence, Roy chose to move from the former East Pakistan to West Pakistan, where he resided for the rest of his life. Roy feared political persecution if he remained in Bangladesh after the country's independence, which led to his decision to move to Pakistan. He also felt that the new Bangladeshi government would no longer guarantee the special autonomous status of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. He abdicated as the Raja of the Chakmas in 1971 in favor of his son, Raja Debashish Roy, when he went into exile. The government of Pakistan made Roy a lifetime federal minister for his loyalty to the government in Islamabad during the war. Roy headed a delegation from Pakistan to oppose Bangladesh's application to join the United Nations. The government of Bangladesh, under Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, sent its own delegation to New York to apply for admission led by Tridev Roy's mother Rajmata Benita Roy. Roy joined the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto during the 1970s. Bhutto offered Roy the position of President of Pakistan once he became Prime Minister of Pakistan. However, Roy declined Bhutto's offer of the presidency because, under the new Constitution of Pakistan of 1973, only Muslims can become President of Pakistan. Roy, who called the presidency a "gilded cage," was unwilling to convert from Buddhism to Islam to hold the office. Bhutto was later overthrown by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in 1977. In 1981, Roy was appointed as Pakistani Ambassador to Argentina by the Zia government, a move which simultaneously removed him from day-to-day involvement in Pakistani politics. He was simultaneously accredited as an ambassador in Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay and he held these positions until 1995. He later was Pakistan's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. He remained abroad to abroad until 1996, when he returned to Islamabad. Roy also held the position as a federal minister-for-life within the Pakistani government. Roy, a leading figure in Pakistan's Buddhist community, headed the Pakistan Buddhist Society from 1996 until his death in 2012. In 2005, the High Commissioner of Sri