Staff Reporter :
Members of the militant group Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA) are suspected of being involved in three bank heists in Bandarban within a span of just 16 hours, according to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.
In a statement made on Thursday, he expressed his concerns regarding the incidents. Additionally, on Friday, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Commander Khandaker Al Moin attributed the three bank robberies in Bandarban to the Kuki-Chin National Front, also known as the Bawm Party, suggesting these acts were demonstrations of their strength.
The KNA serves as the armed division of the Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF), a prohibited separatist organization operating in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) that advocates for the region’s independence.
The KNF, established in 2017, envisions creating a separate state within Bangladesh, encompassing nine upazilas: Baghaichari, Barkal, Belaichari, and Jurachari in the Rangamati hill district, along with Ruma, Thanchi, Alikadam, and Rowangchhari in Bandarban.
Nathan Bawm, the founding president of the KNF, is a graduate of the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University.
He was actively involved with the Dhaka metropolitan branch and the central committee of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity’s student wing, the Pahari Chhatra Parishad, and is also the founding president of the Kuki-Chin National Development Organization.
The spotlight turned to the KNA in May of the previous year following the death of two Bangladesh Army soldiers in attacks believed to be executed by this group in Bandarban.
The Army has implicated the KNF in providing militant training in exchange for financial compensation. In October 2022, it was uncovered that the KNF had been training members of a newly formed militant faction named Jama’atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya.
The Chin-Kuki-Mizo people, who share a common tribal identity under various names, reside in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India, straddling the border region among these nations.
This ethnic armed organization is actively pursuing political and military strategies to establish an independent entity in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, an area that includes most of Bandarban and Rangamati districts.
