The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of the people's Republic of Bangladesh, was first set up in 1971 with the formation of the government-in-exile during the Bangladesh war of liberation. The ministry started to operate from Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka after the victory of Bangladesh forces over Pakistani occupiers on 16 December 1971. After independence it inherited as legacy the law and order of the war-ravaged country. That was the beginning from which the present-day Ministry of Home Affairs evolved as a full-fledged governmental organ.