The country Mujib returned to was scarred by civil war . The number of people killed , raped , or displaced could be only vaguely estimated . The task of economic rehabilitation , specifically the immediate goal of food distribution to a hungry populace , was frustrated by crippled communications and transportation systems . The new nation faced many other seemingly insurmountable problems inhibiting its reconstruction . One of the most glaring was the breakdown of law and order . In the wake of the war of independence , numerous bands of guerrillas still roamed the countryside , fully armed and outside the control of the government . Many fighters of the Mukti Bahini joined the Bangladesh Army and thus could legally retain their weapons , but many others ignored Mujib’s plea that they surrender their weapons . Some armed groups took the law into their own hands and set up territories under their own jurisdiction . In time these