In 1971, following the Bangladesh Liberation War in which Bangladesh achieved independence, the country's majority Bengali Muslims began strategically colonising the Chittagong Hill Tracts, which has displaced native inhabitants. Between 1978 and 1984, the government incentivised over 400,000 Bengali Muslims to settle in the CHT, by offering each family 5 acres of land and free food rations. The Marma population has subsequently declined over the years, particularly in the CHT districts of Bandarban Chittagong and Patuakhali. Between 1979 and 1997, Bengali Muslim settlers and the Bangladesh military carried out over 15 major massacres of Buddhist peoples in the CHT. Due to the outbreaks of violence, communal and social unrest, many fled to the Indian states of Mizoram and Tripura, or to Burma (now Myanmar). The Bangladesh government has also forcibly converted Marmas from Buddhism to Islam and destroyed Buddhist temples (kyaung), as means of integrating them into Bangladeshi society. Amnesty International reports document systematic accounts of torture and extrajudicial executions of tribal inhabitants of the Chittagong Hill Tracts by security forces during 1989 and 1990.