The Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (; United People's Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts; abbreviated PCJSS) is a political party formed to represent the people and indigenous tribes of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. Since its inception in 1972, the PCJSS has fought for autonomy and the recognition of the ethnic identity and rights of the indigenous tribes of the Hill Tracts. Its military arm, the Shanti Bahini was used to fight government forces and Bengali settlers in the Hill Tracts. A peace accord was signed in 1997 led to the disarmament of the Shanti Bahini and enabled the PCJSS to return to mainstream politics.
Background
The roots of the PCJSS can be traced to the Hill Tracts Students' Association and the Parbatya Chattagram Upajatiya Kalyan Samiti (United People's Welfare and Development Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts) that were organised in the 1960s in what was then-East Pakistan. The organisations agitated on behalf of the 100,000 native peoples displaced by the construction of the Kaptai Dam, seeking rehabilitation and compensation. After the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, representatives of the Chittagong Hill Tracts such as the Chakma politicians Charu Bikash Chakma and Manabendra Narayan Larma sought autonomy and recognition of the rights of the peoples of the region. Larma and others protested the draft of the Constitution of Bangladesh, although the Constitution recognised the ethnic identity but Larma and others wanted full sovereignty and separation from Bangladesh. The government policy of recognised only the Bengali culture and the Bengali language and designating all citizens of Bangladesh as Bengalis. In talks with Hill Tracts delegation led by Manabendra Narayan Larma, the country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman insisted that the ethnic groups of the Hill Tracts adopt the Bengali identity. Sheikh Mujib is also reported to have threatened to forcibly settle Bengalis in the Hill Tracts to reduce the native peoples into a minority. The PCJSS held its first national conference on 24 June 1972 at Indrapuri Cinema Hall of Rangamati town. A 60-member Central Committee of PCJSS was constituted with Birendra Kishore Roaza as President and M N Larma as the General Secretary.
Four-point manifesto and foundation
On 24 April 1972 Manabendra Narayan Larma presented a four-point manifesto to the constitution drafting committee, which sought:
Autonomy for the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the creation of its own Legislative Assembly. Inclusion in the constitution of a statute like the Regulation of 1900 that safeguarded the identity and rights of the people of the Hill Tracts. Preservation of the positions of tribal chiefs and tribal customs and laws. Prohibition of amendments to the statute enshrining the Regulation of 1900 and the settlement of Bengalis in the Hill Tracts.
The manifesto was summarily rejected by the government, causing resentment and dissatisfaction amongst the people of the Hill Tracts. On 15 February 1973 representatives and activists of the Hill Tracts founded the Parbatya Chhattagram Jana Samhatti Samiti (PCJSS) under Manabendra Narayan Larma's leadership. The party's official aims and objectives included humanism, nationalism, democracy, secularism and the protection of the rights, culture and ethnic identity, and autonomy for the tribes of the Hill Tracts. The PCJSS sought to unify and represent all the tribes of the Hill Tracts and also organised a committee of villages, a students and youth wing and a women's wing of the party.