Nathan Bom

Nathan Bom
Born1980
Ruma Upazila, Bandarban District, Bangladesh
Allegiance Kuki-Chin National Front
Service / branch Kuki-Chin National Army
Years of service2022–present
Battles / warsChittagong Hill Tracts conflict
Spouse(s)
Lelsom Kim Bom
​
(m. 2009)​
ChildrenAt least one

Nathan Lancheo Bom[1] is a Bawm politician and militant leader from the Chittagong Hill Tracts who is the founding president of the Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF), as well as the leader of the Kuki-Chin National Army (KNA).[2] He founded KNF in 2017. Since then, his location remains unknown.[3]

Biography

Bom was born in 1980[3] at Edenpara, Ruma upazila.[1] His father, Jaotan Loncheo Bom, was a Jhum farmer and mother, Raukil Bom, was a homemaker.[1] He is the youngest among the six siblings, five brothers and one sister.[1]

Bom went to Dhaka after this Secondary School Certificate examination.[1] He passed his Higher Secondary Certificate examination from Dhaka College.[1] In 1996, he earned his master's degree from Dhaka University Faculty of Fine Arts, making him the first from the Bawm community to attain such.[1]

He was associated with politics from a young age. He was a member of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Samhati Samiti (PCJSS)'s youth wing. In 2000, Bom set up a sculpture of Manabendra Narayan Larma at Khagrachhari town.[3] He is a former member of Hill Artists Group.[4]

In the 2018 Bangladesh general elections, Bom become the first politician from the Bawm community to collect nomination paper for 300th Jatiya Sangsad constituency. However, his nomination paper was rejected.[3][2]

He wrote five research treatises[4] and a book about Bawm community, named The Bawmjow.[3]

Bom is married. His wife Lelsom Kim Bom is a staff nurse working at local government health complex,[1][5][6] although other sources say that she is a school teacher.[3][4] The couple has at least one child,[3] with some sources reporting two,[1] with the elder son studying at Aizawl of Mizoram, India.[1]

Views

Bom bears a strong anti-Chakma sentiment. He believes that Chakmas exercise a domination or hierarchy over the other tribes of Chittagong Hill Tracts. He considers Kuki-Chins (Zo people) to be the Bhumiputro (Son of the soil) of the tribal region of Chittagong Hill Tracts.[4][7] He proposed a state for the Kuki-Chins in the Chittagong Hill Tracts either autonomous or independent where there will be no place for Chakmas, along with Marmas & Tripuris.[7] He is also a critique of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti for not representing the tribes of Chittagong Hill Tracts equally, which may came to be influenced by his Chakma hatred.[7]

Political experts find his anti-Chakma roots in 2003 when he applied for a job at a local project of United Nations Development Program (UNDP), but he got rejected and some Chakma youths got that job. Bom believed that he wasn't given the job for being an ethnic minority and Chakma people's outnumbering his community, which made him to be hostile towards the Chakmas.[4][7]

Kuki-Chin National Front

In 2008, Bom founded an NGO named Kuki-Chin National Development Organization (KNDO), which "carried out philanthropic activities including greening of vast forest areas in the hills, conservation of animals and birds and natural beauty."[1]

In 2016, he launched an armed group named Kuki-Chin National Volunteers (KNV). In 2017, KNV changed its name to Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF).[3][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Who is this Nathan Bom, the terror of the mountains?". Barta24. 10 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b Pakbir, Mir Mosharref Hossain. "Kuki-Chin National Army: A fierce regional threat in sight". The Daily Observer. Archived from the original on April 9, 2024. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h কে এই নাথান বম?. Bangla Tribune (in Bengali). 23 October 2022. Archived from the original on October 29, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e পাহাড়ে রহস্যময় নাম 'নাথান বম'. Protidiner Sangbad (in Bengali). Archived from the original on May 5, 2024.
  5. ^ "2 including KNF chief Nathan Bom's wife transferred". Prothom Alo. Archived from the original on April 21, 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  6. ^ "Wife of KNF chief, also nurse at Ruma hospital, transferred". The Daily Star. 2024-04-11. Archived from the original on May 31, 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  7. ^ a b c d চাকমা বিদ্বেষ–ই কি নাথান বমের বেপরোয়া হওয়ার কারণ. Independent TV (in Bengali). April 13, 2024. Archived from the original on May 7, 2024.
  8. ^ "Who are these Kuki-Chin armies in the CHT?". Dhaka Tribune. 2023-01-17. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved 2023-04-07.