The Dynamics of Conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh in the Post Peace Accord Period

The Chittagong Hill Tracts, located in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh, are regarded as the home of the indigenous people, resided in by 11 different indigenous ethnic groups, who are ethnically and culturally different from the mainstream Bengali people. However, the area has been subject to violent ethnic conflict since the late 1970s between the security forces of Bangladesh Government and the indigenous ethnic groups. A peace treaty titled the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord was signed in 1997 between the government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) to end the armed conflict. However, the search for peace remains elusive as the region is still engulfed by violence in different ways including direct, structural and cultural violence. This has happened because the Accord has failed to pay due attention to transforming the conflict through reconciliation, community integration, and ensuring environmental sustainability, which could pave the ground to create peace from the bottom up. It is against this backdrop that the study focuses on the dynamics of conflict in the post-accord scenario in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.