Massacres

In the 1980s the Government of Bangladesh started to provide land for thousands of landless Bengali. Many Bengali were forced to move to secure regions because of the insurgency, abandoning their land to the tribal communities.^[12] On 31 May, 1984 Shanti Bahini members allegedly killed 400 people in Bhushanchhara.^[13][14] On 29 April 1986, Shanti Bahini massacred 19 Bengali.^[15][16] On 26 June 1989 the Shanti Bahini burned down villages where inhabitants had voted in Bangladeshi elections.^[17] In 1996 Shanti Bahini abducted and killed 30 Bengalis.^[18] On 9 September 1996, the Shanti Bahini massacred a group of Bengali lumberjacks, who were under the impression they'd been called to a meeting.^[19] Members of Shanti Bahini extracted some four million dollars from the local population in the name of toll collection.^[20]

Peace Accord

On 2 December 1997, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord was signed between the government and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti and the Shanti Bahini promsied to abandon militancy.^[21] Members of Shanti Bahini surrendered their weapons in a stadium in Khagrachari. The treaty saw the lifting of nighttime curfew and the return of 50 thousand refugees.^[22] However, some members opposed to the peace deal formed a dissident group.^[23] Some of those who opposed the peace treaty formed the United People's Democratic Front as an alternate to the PCJSS.^[24] The treaty was also criticised by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party^[25] and has not been fully implemented.^[26] Some members of Shanti Bahini became police officers after the peace treaty. In August 2014 Indian Border Security Forces arrested members of Shanti Bahini, two Bangladeshi Chakmas and three Indian national Chakmas with weapons in Mizoram.^[27]

After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the removal of Bangladesh Awami League from in 1975,^[28] India provided support and shelter to the members of Shanti Bahini.^[29][30][31] Members of Shanti Bahini were trained in Chakrata, India.^[32][33]