Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict

Insurgency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
	Part of the Cold War and Terrorism in Bangladesh
	; Shanti Bahini insurgents, photographed on 5 May 1994
Date	First phase:; c. 1977 – 2 December 1997 (20 years); Second phase:; 20 October 2022 – present
Location	Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh
Status	Ongoing First phase ended with the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord; Second phase started in 2022;
Belligerents
First phase (1977–1997):; Bangladesh;	First phase (1977–1997):; Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti; Logistical support: India;
Commanders and leaders
Units involved
First phase (1977–1997):; Bangladesh Armed Forces Bangladesh Army 24th Infantry Division; ; Bangladesh Air Force; ; Bangladesh Rifles; Bangladesh Ansar; Bangladesh Police Armed Police Battalion; ; Second phase (since 2022):; Bangladesh Army 24th Infantry Division; ; Border Guard Bangladesh;	First phase (1977–1997):; Shanti Bahini; Second phase (since 2022):; Kuki-Chin National Army
Strength
115,000–150,000; Army: 33,000—80,000; Border Guard Bangladesh : 25,000; Bangladesh Ansar: 5,000; Armed Police: 10,000;	First phase (1977–1997):; : 2,600–15,000; Second phase (since 2022):; : 2,000
Casualties and losses
First phase: 6,000+ combatants killed (partial list)	3,500–25,000 civilians; (Bengali and indigenous villagers); 80,000 civilians displaced; 30,000 deaths; 400+ conflict-related deaths from disease in Bangladesh (June–Aug 1995 only); 7,000+ non-violent deaths among refugees in India (14–21 May 1990 only);

The insurgency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Bengali: পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রামে বিদ্রোহ), also known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict (Bengali: পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম যুদ্ধ), refers to a political and armed conflict that occurred in Bangladesh in two phases:

The first phase took place from 1977 to 1997 between the government of Bangladesh and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (United People's Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts) and its armed wing, the Shanti Bahini, over the issue of autonomy and the land rights of Jumma people, mainly for Chakma people and the other ethnic minority of Chittagong Hill Tracts. Shanti Bahini launched an insurgency against government forces in 1977, when the country was under military rule, and the conflict continued for twenty years until the government and the PCJSS signed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord in 1997.
The second phase started in 2022 with the Kuki-Chin National Front under Nathan Bom, who wanted to establish a separate state for Kuki-Chin ethnic groups in Bandarban and Rangamati. The conflict was continuing as of 2025, although raids and operations under Operation Uttaran had somewhat weakened militant groups in CHT.

The actions then carried out by the Armed Forces and the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti groups resulted in casualties on both sides. There were also reports of mass rapes by the paramilitary Bangladesh Ansar, though these claims are disputed. According to Amnesty International as of June 2013, the Bangladeshi government had still not honoured the terms of the peace accord nor addressed the Jumma people's concerns over the return of their land. Amnesty estimated that 90,000 Jumma families had been displaced internally.