The Awami League government alleges that Hefazat is front for Jamaat e Islami and seeks to derail the International tribunals for the war crimes committed in 1971, by Hefazat denies any role with Jamaat e Islami, and alleges that this is a libel to subjugate Islamists in public life. Analysts also say that any relationship claim is baffling as Ahmad Shafi belongs to a band of Islamists that unlike Jamaat, did not oppose the independence of Bangladesh, and supported a united India and rejected the creation of Pakistan in 1947. The German ambassador in Bangladesh Albrecht Conze opined that Hifazat demands fundamentalism in Bangladesh. However, in 2014, diplomats from the American embassy in Bangladesh met with the leaders of Hefazat and discussed their demands.