government settled in Kolkata, in exile, for the rest of the war—briefly at a house on Ballyganj Circular Road and then at 8 Theatre Road. On 15 April, Tajuddin secretly met Hossain Ali, the deputy high commissioner of Pakistan, in Kolkata. Tajuddin persuaded Ali, along with his Bengali staff, to switch allegiance to the Bangladesh government the day after the cabinet took their oaths. As promised, Ali and 70 employees at the Deputy High Commission swore allegiance to the Bangladesh Government, turning the Pakistan High Commission on 9 Circus Avenue into the Bangladesh Mission in Kolkata for good. The mission came to house part of the government's offices, most importantly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Organising the Liberation War Starting in Dhaka and other major cities on 25 March, Pakistani forces occupied most of Bangladesh by late April, creating an influx of refugees into the bordering states of India, most notably in West Bengal and Tripura. The number of refugees would eventually reach ten million. As the war broke out, Bengali soldiers serving in various Pakistani battalions revolted and put up armed resistance against Pakistani forces all over Bangladesh. Rebel commanders of these battalions, unaware of the establishment of a provisional government, met along with Colonel M A G Osmani on 4 April. At that meeting, the Bangladesh Forces (BDF, popularly called Mukti Bahini) was formed, with Osmani as its commander-in-chief. Young people at various locations put up armed resistance. Unable to overcome the Pakistani forces' onslaught, owing mainly to lack of heavy arms and manpower, both soon retreated into Indian territory. As Pakistani forces spread around the country, thousands of youths from occupied Bangladesh crossed the border into India, seeking arms and training to join the fight against the Pakistani occupation force. Among the Tajuddin Government's top priorities was coordinating those ongoing war efforts. In mid-July (10 to 15) the sector commanders of the BDF met at a conference at the Bangladesh Government's headquarters on Theatre Road in Kolkata. The conference set a course for the conduct of the war in the coming months. The irregular guerrilla warriors were named Gono Bahini (popularly called Muktijoddha or "Freedom Fighter") and the regular force was named "Regular Force" (popularly called Mukti Fouj). Under Tajuddin's premiership, many Bengali bureaucrats, diplomats and military officers serving Pakistan defected to the new Government of Bangladesh. The Government soon established a capable civil administration. On 27