September 2000
UPDF holds dialogue with JSS
On 23 September 2000, a formal dialogue was held between the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF) and the Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS) under a third party mediation. It was after a lot of persuasions by the Liaison Committee headed by Nabin Kumar Tripura that the JSS leadership finally agreed to sit across the table with UPDF.
Although there was discussion on a wide range of issues, the JSS members were not quite serious about the dialogue. They had to come to the meeting under the pressure of the people. The JSS representatives said they were not willing to conclude a written agreement. On the contrary, the UPDF insisted on having it written and signed. The members of the liaison committee also supported the UPDF views and held that unwritten agreement with the government have landed the Jummas in serious troubles. Once bitten twice shy. Moreover, if the agreement were verbal, and not written, then there would be enough scope for misinterpretation of the agreement in many different ways, aggravating the situation even further.
UPDF submitted a proposal for unity on the basis of the following three points:
1. All sorts of attacks against UPDF and its supporters should be immediately stopped.
2. To launch a joint movement against the government on the basis of a minimum programme.
3. In order to launch a joint movement a ‘National United Front` should be established comprising all the patriotic forces of the Jumma people including UPDF and JSS.
26 December 2000
Second founding anniversary observed
The Party celebrated its second founding anniversary throughout the Chittagong Hill Tracts as well as in Dhaka and Chittagong. To mark the occasion, the Chittagong Unit of the party organised a seminar at District Auditorium, which came under police attack. Eleven party members and a Bengali guest speaker were arrested without warrant.