Despite being heavily non-Muslim, the Chittagong Hill Tracts were awarded to Pakistan (specifically East Pakistan) by the British during the 1947 partition of India. The Chakmas and other people of the hill tracts had favored union with India instead of Pakistan. Initially granted special autonomy, the status of the region was changed by the Pakistani government during the 1950s to allow the settlement of large numbers of largely non-indigenous, Muslim Bengali settlers into the region. The Pakistani government also opened a hydro-electric dam, the Kaptai Dam in the early 1960s, which flooded about 40% of the Chakmas' available arable land. However, the Chakmas under Tridev Roy chose to remain neutral during the 1960s and 1970s as relations between the Pakistani Army and Mukti Bahini, which fought for Bangladeshi independence.