Kuki National Front
{{Short description|Militant organisation in Manipur, India}}
{{about-distinguish|armed outfit in Manipur, India|Kuki-Chin National Front}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox war faction
| name = Kuki National Front
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| war = insurgency in Northeast India
| image =
| caption =
| active = {{Start date|df=yes|1988|05|18}}{{sfnp|Nehkholun Kipgen, Why not Kukiland for Kukis|2012|p=111}}
– present
| leaders = Nehkholun Kipgen{{KIA}}
| ideology = Kuki nationalism
| partof = Kuki National Organisation, United People's Front
| headquarters = Kangpokpi
| area = Manipur
{{citation |title=Kuki National Front |publisher=South Asia Terrorism Portal |date=2015 |url=https://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/manipur/terrorist_outfits/knf.htm}}
| allies =
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}}
Kuki National Front (KNF) is a Kuki militant organisation operating in the state of Manipur, India. Its professed goal is to achieve a 'Kukiland' state within the framework of the Indian constitution. At present, it has split into multiple factions which have joined the umbrella groups Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People's Front (UPF) along with a Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with the Government of India.{{sfnp|Sekholal Kom, Militancy and Negotiations|2011|loc=p. 81, Table 1}}{{sfnp|Ngamkhohao Haokip, Politics of Tribe Identity with reference to the Kukis|2012|p=69}}
Background
Until 1986, the Kuki people of Manipur participated in the Greater Mizoram movement of the Mizo National Front. The signing of the Mizo Accord left them in the lurch, and also created a "security void" with respect to the Naga militant group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) formed in 1980. NSCN had the agenda of creating "Greater Nagalim" containing all the Naga-inhabited areas in various states, in particular Manipur.{{sfnp|Seikhogin Haokip, Genesis of Kuki Autonomy Movement|2012|pp=67–68}} Naga areas were interlaced with Kuki villages in northern hills of Manipur. The Naga integration movement resorted to the use of threat and forcible eviction of Thadou Kukis living among their midst.{{sfnp|Thongkholal Haokip, Home and Belonging in Northeast India|2023|pp=150–151}}
The Kuki National Front (KNF) and the Kuki National Organisation (KNO), along with its armed wing Kuki National Army (KNA), were formed in the face of these developments in 1988.{{sfnp|Thongkholal Haokip, Home and Belonging in Northeast India|2023|p=152}}{{sfnp|Nehginpao Kipgen, Ethnic Conflict in India|2011|p=1050}} Whereas KNF is based in Kangpokpi, KNO operates in all the Kuki-inhabited areas in India and Myanmar, except for Nagaland.{{sfnp|Tohring, Violence and identity in North-East India|2010|loc=p. 45: 'According to P.S. Haokip: "The Kuki National Organization explicitly states that issues concerning Kukis in Nagaland are separate from those related to Kuki in other parts, such as in present day Manipur, Assam, Tripura, and Burma."'}}
History
The Kuki National Front was formed on 18 May 1988{{efn|The year is mentioned as 1987 in some sources.{{sfnp|Sinha, Lost Opportunities|2007|pp=120–121}}}} at Molnoi village along the India–Myanmar border. Nehkholun (Nehlun) Kipgen was its founder chairman.{{sfnp|Nehkholun Kipgen, Why not Kukiland for Kukis|2012|p=111}}
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Northeastindia/comments/1hbmrim/an_article_from_2000_on_formation_of_kukiland_by/?rdt=37727 "Question of Kukiland" (interview of K. S. Bonsing)], North-East Sun, 1–14 October 2000.
The base of the organisation is nevertheless Kangpokpi in Manipur, India.
Yambem Laba, The search for Kukiland, Imphal Free Press, 16 December 2012. {{ProQuest|1238765740}}
The objective of the organisation has been to achieve a separate 'Kukiland' state within India consisting of the districts of Sadar Hills (Kangpokpi), Churachandpur–Pherzawl and parts of Tamenglong–Chandel and Ukhrul.{{sfnp|Sekholal Kom, Militancy and Negotiations|2011|pp=77–78}}{{sfnp|Sinha, Lost Opportunities|2007|pp=120–121}}
[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/kuki-national-front-reiterates-kukiland-demand-on-25th-anniversary/articleshow/13310104.cms Kuki National Front reiterates Kukiland demand on 25th anniversary], The Times of India, 20 May 2012. {{ProQuest|1014349503}}
Some 300 KNF guerrillas are said to have undergone training with the Kachin Independence Army in Myanmar.{{sfnp|Szajkowski & Terranova, Revolutionary and Dissident Movements|2004|p=174}} They may have also collaborated with United Liberation Front of Assam for armed training.
[https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.20999/page/n1288 The Kuki won't crumble], Sunday, 2-8 April 1995, page 94.
From 1992, the KNF, along with KNA, locked horns with the Naga militant group NSCN-IM, as part of the Kuki-Naga clashes.{{sfnp|Szajkowski & Terranova, Revolutionary and Dissident Movements|2004|p=174}}
Nehlun Kipgen was killed in an encounter with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Kangpokpi area. After this, KNF split into multiple factions, including:{{sfnp|Zou, Emergent Micro-National Communities|2012|pp=323, 325}}
[https://e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=53..030824.aug24 KNF-MC chief German attacked, escort injured], Chronicle News Service, 2 August 2024.
- KNF (President group), headed by Thangboi Kipgen, which in turn produced further splinter groups:
- KNF (Zogam), headed by Joshua Haokip,{{sfnp|Letkhosei Haokip, Ethnicity and Insurgency in Myanmar/Burma|2018|pp=137–138}} and
- KNF (Samuel), led by T. Samuel Haokip.{{sfnp|Letkhosei Haokip, Ethnicity and Insurgency in Myanmar/Burma|2018|pp=137–138}}[https://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=19..140810.aug10 KNO welcomes KNF (Samuel)], The Sangai Express, via e-pao.net, 13 August 2010.
After some internecine attempts in the 2000s, eleven militant groups gathered under the umbrella of Kuki National Organisation in 2008,{{efn|Even though KNO started with its own armed wing KNA in 1988, it now operates as an umbrella group with multiple armed groups under its wing.}} which included KNF (Military Council) and KNF (Zogam).{{sfnp|Sekholal Kom, Militancy and Negotiations|2011|pp=71–72}} KNF (Samuel) also joined the organisation in 2010. The KNF (President group) joined another umbrella organisation called United People's Front (UPF). All these groups entered into a Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with the Government of India and the Government of Manipur in August 2008.{{sfnp|Sekholal Kom, Militancy and Negotiations|2011|pp=71–72}} These groups are now collectively referred to as "SoO groups".
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{reflist}}
; Sources
- {{citation |last1=Arora |first1=Vibha |last2=Kipgen |first2=Ngamjahao |chapter=Demand for Kukiland and Kuki ethnic nationalism |editor1=Vibha Arora |editor2=N. Jayaram |title=Democratisation in the Himalayas: Interests, Conflicts, and Negotiations |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2017 |isbn=9781351997997 |pages=161–185 |ref={{sfnref|Arora & Kipgen, Demand for Kukiland and Kuki ethnic nationalism|2017}}}}
- {{citation |last=Haokip |first=T. S. Letkhosei |title=Ethnicity and Insurgency in Myanmar/Burma: A Comparative Study of the Kuki-Chin and Karen Insurgencies |publisher=Educreation Publishing |year=2018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cGpoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA182 |ref={{sfnref|Letkhosei Haokip, Ethnicity and Insurgency in Myanmar/Burma|2018}}}}
- {{citation |last=Haokip |first=Ngamkhohao |title=Politics of Tribe Identity with reference to the Kukis |journal=Journal of North East India Studies |volume=2 |number=2 |date=July-December 2012 |pages=64-73 |url=https://www.jneis.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2.2.5.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Ngamkhohao Haokip, Politics of Tribe Identity with reference to the Kukis|2012}}}}
- {{citation |last=Haokip |first=Seikhogin |chapter=Genesis of Kuki Autonomy Movement in Northeast India |editor=Thongkholal Haokip |title=The Kukis of Northeast India: Politics and Culture |publisher=Bookwell |year=2012 |isbn=9789380574448 |pages=49– |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hp4hWrL-JOEC&pg=PA67 |ref={{sfnref|Seikhogin Haokip, Genesis of Kuki Autonomy Movement|2012}}}}
- {{citation |last=Haokip |first=Thongkholal |chapter=Home and Belonging in Northeast India |title=Migration, Regional Autonomy, and Conflicts in Eastern South Asia: Searching for a Home(land) |editor1=Amit Ranjan |editor2=Diotima Chattoraj |publisher=Springer Nature |year=2023 |isbn=9783031287640 |chapter-url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4310170 |via=ssrn.com |ref={{sfnref|Thongkholal Haokip, Home and Belonging in Northeast India|2023}}}}
- {{citation |first=Nehginpao |last=Kipgen |title=Ethnic Conflict in India: A Case Study of the Kukis and the Nagas in Manipur |journal=The Indian Journal of Political Science |date=October–December 2011 |volume=72 |number=4 |pages=1043-1060 |jstor=41856539 |ref={{sfnref|Nehginpao Kipgen, Ethnic Conflict in India|2011}}}}
- {{citation |last=Kipgen |first=Nehkholun |chapter=Why not Kukiland for Kukis |editor=Thongkholal Haokip |title=The Kukis of Northeast India: Politics and Culture |publisher=Bookwell |year=2012 |isbn=9789380574448 |pages=107– |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hp4hWrL-JOEC&pg=PA107 |ref={{sfnref|Nehkholun Kipgen, Why not Kukiland for Kukis|2012}}}}
- {{citation |first=Ch. Sekholal |last=Kom |title=Militancy and Negotiations: A Study of Suspension of Operation in Manipur |journal=Journal of Peace Studies |volume=18 |number=1–2 |date=January–June 2011 |pages=70– |url=https://www.icpsnet.org/journal/archives/2011Jan-Art6.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Sekholal Kom, Militancy and Negotiations|2011}}}}
- {{citation |first=S. P. |last=Sinha |title=Lost Opportunities: 50 Years of Insurgency in the North-east and India's Response |publisher=Lancer Publishers & Distributors |year=2007 |isbn=81-7062-162-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/lostopportunitie0000sinh |via=archive.org |url-access=registration |ref={{sfnref|Sinha, Lost Opportunities|2007}}}}
- {{citation |title=Revolutionary and Dissident Movements of the World |edition=4th |editor1-first=Bogdan |editor1-last=Szajkowski |editor2-first=Florence |editor2-last=Terranova |publisher=C John Harper Publishing |year=2004 |orig-year=1983 |isbn=0-9543811-2-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780954381127 |via=archive.org |ref={{sfnref|Szajkowski & Terranova, Revolutionary and Dissident Movements|2004}}}}
- {{citation |first=S. R. |last=Tohring |title=Violence and Identity in North-east India: Naga-Kuki Conflict |publisher=Mittal Publications |year=2010 |isbn=9788183243445 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zlaIRKRspYQC |ref={{sfnref|Tohring, Violence and identity in North-East India|2010}}}}
- {{citation |last=Zou |first=S. Thangboi |title=Emergent Micro-National Communities: The Logic of Kuki-Chin Armed Struggle in Manipur |journal=Strategic Analysis |volume=36 |number=2 |date=2012 |pages=315–327 |doi=10.1080/09700161.2012.646509 |ref={{sfnref|Zou, Emergent Micro-National Communities|2012}}}}
Category:Rebel groups in India
Category:1988 establishments in India
Category:Military units and formations established in 1988