by Probir Kumar Sarker/S Bashu Das in Dhaka Tribune, Jan 17, 2023
The Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF), or the Bom Party, surfaced on the scene last year after the Indian border forces arrested a dozen members with arms and ammunition in Mizoram. In October, law enforcers discovered that KNF was training members of a new militant group named Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya in exchange for money.
Formed in 2017, the KNF aims at establishing a separate State within Bangladesh — with nine upazilas, namely Baghaichari, Barkal, Belaichari and Jurachari upazilas of Rangamati hill district and Ruma, Thanchi, Alikadam and Rowangchhari upazilas under Bandarban.
“Separatist” group KNF, which consists of young male and female members of the Bom community, maintains close ties with like-minded groups operating in Mizoram, Manipur, Rakhine State and the CHT.
In Bangladesh, this Christian-dominated ethnic group laments the Jana Samhati Samity (JSS) for alleged persecution and discrimination and the Arakan Army for coordinated attacks. They are also found engaged in fierce battles with the JSS members and spread terror in villages to establish supremacy.
Other communities of the same tribe are the Mro, Lusai, Khumi, Khyang and Pangkhua ethnic groups of the CHT.
KNF leadership
The KNF president, Nathan Bom, passed his master’s degree from the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University.
He was an active member of the Dhaka metropolitan branch and central committee of JSS’ student organization Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP). He is also the founding president of Kuki-Chin National Development Organization (KNDO).
Nathan, who authored six books, worked on the sculpture of MN Larma at Chengi Square in Khagrachari.
He was the first candidate from the Bam community as an independent candidate in the 2018 parliamentary election.
Porous border
The eastern border of the Bandarban district that touches India and Myanmar is a favourite junction for the separatists and religious extremist groups. Here they conduct training, trade and other communication more or less fearlessly.
But the local police, paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the military carry out special operations to dismantle their training camps and hideouts.
Law enforcement sources said the KNF recently received two arms shipments from Myanmar’s Kachin state, as the group was closely linked to the separatist outfits in India and Myanmar.
Moreover, around 50-60 of the KNF members are said to be undergoing training with sophisticated weapons.
On November 20-21 last year, at least 270 persons from 76 families of the Bom community left their homes in the CHT as Mizoram Refugees. Most of those people were children and women, and none were males aged 14-60.
The KNF was officially launched as an armed organization with 2,000 members in the hills in May last year.
Proposals to end armed conflict
In a letter to the prime minister on December 8, KNF President Nathan Bom urged the government to create a conducive atmosphere for a ceasefire and on modalities of disarmament, and grant its demand for a Kuki-Chin State within and under the ambit of the Constitution.
The KNF has also accused the government of engaging Myanmar’s militia group Arakan Army to dislocate them.
The rise of the KNF and its armed wing has raised concerns among the hill people as well as the government, as the three hill districts have long been troubled by conflicts and violent activities by other organizations. These groups are JSS (main and reformists), the United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF – main and democratic) and the Mog Party.
Since October, when the law enforcers discovered KNF’s ties to Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, the joint forces and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have arrested dozens of members of the two groups during raids on the training camps and seized arms and ammunition.
Since it came to power in 2009, the Awami League government has also been working to neutralize and destroy local and regional militant groups that have killed more than 100 people, including foreigners, secularists and war crimes trial campaigners, in armed attacks that shook the world.
On June 9 last year, the UPDF main group, led by Prasit Bikash Khisa that opposed the 1997 Peace Accord, offered the government to hold peace talks. They submitted a formal proposal with 87 demands for peace talks with a former army major who was a key architect of the 1997 accord.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the government was yet to receive the formal proposal.
Why KNF started armed struggle
In the letter to the premier, the KNF alleged that coordinated attacks by the Arakan Army on the Bom people had “led to countless people fleeing” their houses and villages to the neighbouring countries for safety.
“We take immense pride in being citizens of this country, but at the same time, we also rue the indisputable fact that we have been treated as second class citizens in our own land and country, and deprived of all the benefits of development which being a citizenry of a republic country like ours entails,” the KNF president said.
In 2017, the organization conducted armed activities under the name KNV. It later strengthened ties with Karen rebel groups in Manipur State and Burma, sending several hundred members of the organization to Manipur State and later hundreds of active members for training in Kachin, Karen State and Manipur State in the same year.
In 2019, the commandos returned to the hill district after training.
They are believed to have 2,000 members armed with heavy weapons, including AK 47, in the Jampui hills of Bandarban’s Ruma border and Mizoram border of India.
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2023/01/17/morning-brief-162
