Founded in 1972, the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) is a nationalist terrorist group fighting for the independence of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the expulsion of ethnic Bengali Muslim settlers from the region. In the 1970s, with the Bangladeshi government's support, Bengalis began settling in the region shortly after Bangladesh gained its independence from Pakistan, much to the consternation of the local indigenous tribes collectively known as the Jumma. Local tribes, resenting the imposition of Bengali culture and language, revolted. The Bangladesh military was brought into the region to quell the violence between the settlers and the tribes, but only ended up exacerbating the fighting. During this period of violence, the PCJSS established a parallel civil administration to govern the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Jumma. <p><br />In 1983, the PCJSS split into two factions, Lamba (long) and Badi (short). The Lamba faction, led by the party founders, advocated a guerrilla war while the Badi faction sought the assistance of the Indian government to achieve their autonomy. While conducting attacks against settlers and government forces, the two factions also engaged in a civil war against one another. Manabendra Narayan Larma, the party's founder, was assassinated by members of the Badi faction in November 1983. In 1985, the extremely violent fighting between the two factions ended when the Badi faction surrendered to the Bangladeshi government.  As such, the PCJSS (Lamba faction) became the sole guerrilla force in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Attacks were conducted by the Shanti Bahini, its military wing, while its political wing, the Girisur Shilpi Gosthi, controlled the parallel civil administration. <p><br />In November 1999, the PCJSS, claiming to refute violence, announced it was disbanding the Shanti Bahini and becoming solely a political party. Under the leadership of Jyotirindra Bodhipriyac Larma (brother to the group's founder), the PCJSS entered into negotiations to end the 25-year insurgency. On December 2, 1997, together with the Bangladeshi government, the PCJSS signed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Accord which designated the Chittagong Hill Tracts as a semi-autonomous region within Bangladesh under the control of an elected council. While the Accord helped to decrease the violence between government forces, settlers and the PCJSS, it provoked fighting between the PCJSS and its splinter group, the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) and their respective supporters. The UPDF was formed by dissidents of the PCJSS in 1998 who accuse the PCJSS of betraying the cause of the Jumma by not seeking full autonomy from Bangladesh. Despite refuting violence in 1999, members of the PCJSS continue to conduct retributive kidnappings and killings attacks against UPDF supporters and engage in extortion. <br />