Chittagong Hill Tracts
From 1973 until 1997 the Hill Tracts area was the scene of a guerrilla war between the Bangladeshi army and the Shanti Bahini rebels. The troubles stemmed from the cultural clash between the tribal groups and the plains people. After nine months of war of separatism against Pakistan, Bangladesh emerged as an independent state on 16 December 1971. The Jumma people then had hoped that the new rulers of Bangladesh would realize their hopes and aspirations. So the Jumma people demanded to the then government for regional autonomy in a democratic way. Unfortunately, the government of Bangladesh did not respect their fundamental rights and did not write even a single word in the Constitution regarding the entity and safeguard of the Jumma people. Rather, immediately following the independence of Bangladesh in early 1972 the CHT underwent militarization. When the democratic movement to safeguard the national existence of the Jumma people was negotiated by the government with repressive measures through the civil and police administrations, including through militarization with the construction of three Army cantonments, it forced Manabendra Narayan Larma, the then MP and the hero of the CHT Jumma movement, to call for an armed struggle. An armed wing of PCJSS was formed with the name of Shanti Bahini (Peace Force). Since 1979 the Government of Bangladesh has undertaken a drastic program to settle the Bengali population from other Districts of Bangladesh to CHT, so that they would outnumber the Jumma people and use them as human shields for the protection of the Army personnel. At least four hundred thousands of Bengali Muslims were transferred into the CHT and settled on Jumma people’s lands.