With the separatist group Kuki-Chin National Front, known as KNF, making the headlines recently, questions have arisen about its funding and plans.
The KNF, comprising young male and female members of the Bom community, operates in the hills, and maintains close ties with like-minded groups in Mizoram, Manipur, Rakhine State and the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
It aims to establish a separate state within Bangladesh with nine upazilas, namely Baghaichari, Barkal, Belaichari and Jurachari upazilas of Rangamati and Ruma, Thanchi, Lama, Alikadam and Rowangchhari upazilas of Bandarban.
Nathan Bom, a leader of the Bom community, is the head of the KNF. He has been collecting money in various ways in the name of NGOs. Besides, a huge amount of money has been taken from militant organizations for training and providing shelter to their members, according to the law enforcement agencies, who are currently conducting raids to dismantle the dens and camps in the CHT.
A former student of Dhaka University, Nathan was the first person from the Bom community to contest the general election in 2018 as an independent candidate. He has been in hiding due to the ongoing operations of the law enforcement agencies in the hills.
Law enforcers say the KNF has repeatedly called on the international community to intervene in the implementation of the so-called Kuki-Chin State.
The KNF has also urged the government to fulfill its demands, threatening to go into armed conflict otherwise.
Who are they?
The KNF is made up of people from six small ethnic groups, namely Bom, Mro, Lusai, Khumi, Khyang and Pangkhua.
They consider themselves the original inhabitants of the CHT. At the same time, they consider the Chakma, Marma and Tripura communities to be belonging to the Myanmarese and Indian ethnic groups and outsiders.
This is why the KNF members are hostile towards regional groups like Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS) and United People's Democratic Front (UPDF).
Funding sources
The organization has been working openly since the beginning to demonstrate its strength, say sources familiar with the issue. Nathan collected money from different places by using the names of underprivileged communities in the guise of an NGO named Kuki-Chin National Development Organization (KNDO).
Besides, weapons used to come to them from neighbouring India and Myanmar. The KNF sold those weapons at high prices to the members of Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, a new militant organization whose members have undergone training at KNF camps in exchange for Tk3-4 lakh per month since 2021.
According to intelligence sources, the KNF came into existence in 2008, but its armed group came into being in 2016-17. Initially, it was called Kuki-Chin National Volunteers or KNV. Currently, the organization's armed wing has around 4,000 members in the CHT and Mizoram, say law enforcers. They possess all the lethal automatic weapons.
Currently, the name of this armed organization is Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA). Initially, it carried out peaceful programs and established relations with the “Chinese Kingdom” of Manipur in India and Myanmar.
More than 100 KNA members were sent to Manipur, India, for training in the first batch. Later, 100 others were sent to Manipur and Kayin and Kachin states of Myanmar for guerilla training. They returned to the CHT after obtaining training in 2019.
KNF armed members are given training for three months. One month of theoretical and physical training is given in Mizoram. The remaining two months are spent training with Myanmar separatist groups in combat against the Myanmar Army.
Although they have a hideout near the Keokradong peak in Ruma Upazila of Bandarban, most members are currently disguised in plainclothes, awaiting instructions, law enforcers say. They usually stay in their localities but can return to their hideouts quickly.
They upload pictures and videos of armed training regularly on social media.
How the activities of KNF came to light
The KNF president, Nathan Bom, obtained his Master's degree from the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University.
He was an active member of the Dhaka metropolitan branch and the central committee of PCJSS' student organization Pahari Chhatra Parishad (PCP). He is also the founding president of Kuki-Chin National Development Organization (KNDO). Nathan, who has authored six books, worked on the sculpture of MN Larma at Chengi Square in Khagrachhari.
On March 24, 2022, six members of the KNF were arrested by members of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) in Parva of Longtlai district of Mizoram near the tri-junction of Bilaichhari Upazila of Rangamati. A letter containing the seal of the president of the KNA and its chief of staff was recovered from one of the arrestees.
After this, the activities of KNF came into the limelight. On April 12, 2022, four more people were arrested.
In October, law enforcers discovered that the KNF was training members of a new militant group named Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya in exchange for money.
Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of RAB's Legal and Media Wing, said the KNF has been working with the goal of creating a separate state incorporating nine upazilas of the country.
“The KNF members are now in hiding amid ongoing operations by the law enforcement agencies. Apart from the hilly areas, we are conducting raids in different places to nab them,” said the RAB director.
KNF chief Nathan Bom and Shamim Mahfuz, one of the key members of Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya, were students of Dhaka University, and became friends at one point. Shamim took Jama'atul Ansar Amir Anisur Mahmud to Nathan, Commander Moin added.
Anisur Mahmud offered Nathan Tk3-4lakh per month for training and accommodation for their group members. This is how the KNF started getting money from militant organizations, said the RAB official.