Kuki-Chin Refugees

#GS-03 Internal Security

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.

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.

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.