The Shanti Bahini (Bengali: শান্তি বাহিনী "Peace Force") was the name of the military wing of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti - the United People's Party of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh.
It was formed in 1972 to preserve the rights of the tribal people in south-eastern Bangladesh, and fought for many years against the government.[1] It abandoned militancy following the peace treaty signed by the government and the Shamiti on December 2, 1997. Although some members opposed to the peace deal formed a dissident group.[2]
On February 15, 1972, Manabendra Narayan Larma founded the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti (PCJSS), seeking to build an organisation representing all the tribal peoples of the Hill Tracts. Larma was elected to the Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad, the national legislature of Bangladesh as candidate of the PCJSS in 1973.[3] When Larma's continued efforts to make the state recognise the rights of the tribal peoples failed, Larma and the PCJSS began organising the Shanti Bahini (Peace Corps), an armed force operating in the Hill Tracts area. Shanti Bahini became a terrorist organization and the Bengali people living in the area became terrified by the activities of the Shanti Bahini rebels. There are many accusations about Shanti Bahini where they have committed crimes like murders, bribes, rapes on Bengali people. This name was given by the indigenous peoples of Chittagong Hill Tracts when PCJSS insurgents established Shanti (peace) by controlling the local bandits. However, this Shanti Bahini force itself became a terror institution. This happened within 1st 2/3 years of the formation of PCJSS. Later on, this force began attacking state security forces in 1977. They carried out viscous kidnapping of civilians and extortion. Larma and his rebels still kept on committing heinous crimes.[4][5][6] Being the main leader of the PCJSS and the Shanti Bahini, Larma consequently went underground, into hiding from state security forces.[4][6] However, factionalism within the PCJS weakened Larma's standing and he was assassinated on November 10, 1983.[4][6]