Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA)

The on-going conflict between Bangladeshi security forces and the Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA) triggered an influx of refugees from the Kuki-Chin community to the Indian state of Mizoram.

Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA)

• The Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA) is the armed wing of the Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) – a separatist group that was established in 2008 to create a separate state in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Southern Bangladesh.
• The KNF claims that all members of the Bawm, Pungkhua, Lushai, Khumi, Mro, and Khyang ethnic groups are part of the greater Kuki-Chin race.
• Also known as the Bawm Party, this group is having close relationships with rebel groups in Northeast India and Myanmar.

Refugee Situation in Mizoram

• This on-going military operation in the CHT has triggered the inflow of refugees in Mizoram. At least 200 Kuki-Chin refugees from Chittagong reached Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district.
• The state cabinet had recently approved the setting up of temporary shelters and other basic amenities the Bangladeshi Kuki-Chin refugees.
• Some 35 lakh people of Kuki-Chin-Mizo communities live in Chittagong Hills Tracts. More refugees from this region are expected to reach Mizoram.
• They will be recognized as “officially displaced persons” in the state government records since there are no laws related to refugees in India.
• These refugees will be housed on the same lines as the shelters given to the refugees from Myanmar, who entered Mizoram after the 2021 coup.
• Mizoram, which shares a 318-km-long border with Bangladesh, currently hosts some 30,000 refugees from Myanmar.