Nurse Lal Somkim Bawm, wife of KNF chief, transferred to Lalmonirhat from Bandarban

The government have transferred Lal Somkin Bawm, a nurse at the Ruma Upazila Health Complex and wife of the hill armed group Kuku-Chin Nation Front (KNF) leader, to Lalmonirhat.

Lal Somkin, along with another nurse Dipali Baroi, was transferred to Lalmonirhat General Hospital on 8 April, according to a circular issued by the Directorate General of Nursing and Midwifery.

The circular does not mention any reasons for their immediate transfer.

Their transfer comes amid a tense environment in Bandarban as a joint military operation is being carried out in the district by the army, police, border guard and RAB against the KNF.

Lal Somkin is the wife of KNF leader Nathan Lanchew Bawm.

"On the 8th, a transfer order came from the Directorate General of Nursing and Midwifery in Dhaka for Nathan Bawm's wife and another nurse. In accordance with the order, these two were immediately transferred to the General Hospital of Lalmanirhat district on the 9th," said Ruma Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Abdullah Al Hasan.

Asked if they were transferred for any particular reason, Abdullah said he was not informed of any allegations against them.

"The administration knows that better. A transfer order came and we took action based on that."

Earlier this month, armed robbers robbed two branches of Sonali Bank and one branch of the Bangladesh Krishi Bank in Thanchi and Ruma of Bandarban. They looted around Tk17.5 lakh from the Thanchi branches while from Sonali Bank's Ruma branch, they kidnapped the manager and looted firearms from security guards.

The Sonali Bank branch manager was later freed by the armed hill group Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) after a hefty ransom of Tk15 lakh was paid. The group is also suspected to be behind the other crimes as well.

A joint force of the police, army, border guard and the Rapid Action Battalion later launched a joint military operation to root out the group from the hills of Bandarban last Sunday. 

A total of six cases have been filed over the incident and 58 people have been arrested.

Who are the KNF?

The KNA came to the spotlight in late 2022 when law enforcers discovered the KNF was training members of a new militant group named Jama'atul Ansar Fil Hindal Sharqiya.

Later in May 2023, two soldiers of the Bangladesh Army were killed in attacks reportedly carried out by them in Bandarban.

With the claim of responsibility for nearly two dozen killings of CHT individuals, the KNF emerged as a fresh source of worry in the remote Rangamati, Khagrachari, and Bandarban districts of the region.

With its forest cover and numerous mountains, the region is a pick for numerous armed and separatist groups.

According to media reports, there are currently around 4,000 trained members of the Kuki-Chin Army (KNA), the military wing of KNF, living both inside and outside the country.

The KNF, often known as the "Bawm Party" locally, is made up of six members of the Kuki-Chin ethnic group: the Bom, Pangkhua, Lusai, Khumi, Mro, and Khiang.

KNF leadership

The founding president of KNF, Nathan Bom, earned 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 the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity's student organisation Pahari Chhatra Parishad. He is also the founding president of the Kuki-Chin National Development Organization.

He was the first candidate from the Bom community as an independent candidate in the 2018 parliamentary election.

It is believed that implicitly the KNF does not support the CHT Peace Treaty, which, according to different media reports, they feel overwhelmingly supports the Chakma clan – who have more national representation than other tribes in the region.

They are also found engaged in fierce battles with the Jana Sanghati Samity (JSS) members and spreading terror in villages to establish supremacy.