Kuki-Chin Refugees
#GS-03 Internal Security
For Prelims:
Who are the Kuki-Chin Refugees:
- They are an ethnic minority group in Bangladesh who have fled the armed conflict between Bangladesh Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the ethnic separatist group Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA).
- KNA is the armed wing of the Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF), a political front formed by the ethnic Kuki-Chin-Mizo community in Bangladesh, that demands a separate state and safeguard for the community in the country.
- It has been alleged the Bangladesh army has reached a secret agreement with the Myanmar-based Arakan Army (AA) to launch joint operations against the KNA.
- The Kuki-Chin Refugees will be housed in the state of Mizoram as per the guidelines given by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
- The refugees will be housed on the same lines as the shelter given to over 40,000 refugees from Myanmar who have entered Mizoram since a military coup in the neighbouring country in February 2021.
- The “checks and balance” adopted for the Myanmarese refugees will also be put in place for the Bangladeshi refugees.
Kuki tribe:
- The Kuki constitute one of several hill tribes within India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.
- In Northeast India, they are present in all states except Arunachal Pradesh.
- Some fifty tribes of Kuki peoples in India are recognised as scheduled tribes, based on the dialect spoken by that particular Kuki community as well as their region of origin.
- The Chin people of Myanmar and the Mizo people of Mizoram are kindred tribes of the Kukis.
- Collectively, they are termed the Zo people.
Chin Tribe:
- The Chin people are a Southeast Asian people native to Chin State and its neighbouring states of Myanmar.
- The Chin are one of the founding groups (Chin, Kachin, Shan and Bamar) of the Union of Burma.
- During the era of British rule, the colonial government used the compound term ‘Chin-Kuki-Mizo’ to group the Kukish language speaking people, and the Indian government inherited this nomenclature.
