Tag Archives: Islamic extremism

Extremists are increasing, says Kyrgyz police

JUNE 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz police said in a statement that they have identified around 4,000 extremists in the country, more than double the previous census they had published in September 2015. Most of the individuals that the police classified as extremists belong to the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic party. A word of caution, though. Countries in Central Asia have a record of inflating the number of extremists and terrorists, which they use as a scapegoat to crackdown on opposition.

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(News report from Issue No. 285, published on June 17 2016)

Uzbek court jails ISIS sympathisers

JUNE 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — An Uzbek court in Samarkand jailed six locals who had planned to join the radical group ISIS in Syria and had incited others to practice Sharia law. The court handed out sentences of six to nine years. All the accused, five men and one woman, pleaded guilty. Official reports say that dozens of Central Asians travel to Syria every month to ISIS.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Editorial: Attacks in Aktobe

JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh officials have been quick to blame Islamic militants for a series of attacks in Aktobe, northwest Kazakhstan, that killed at least 25 people.

This, if proved, would be alarming as it would confirm links in west Kazakhstan with Islamic militants in both the North Caucasus and Syria/Iraq. The Islamic militant explanation, though, would also help President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s narrative. He made it clear that if the Kazakh population didn’t support him they would be faced with a dystopian future.

And this version of events, of course, could be accurate, time will tell. But no group has taken responsibility and there is an alternative explanation.

Some analysts have said that the attacks were organised by disgruntled members of the Kazakh elite. Mr Nazarbayev, 75, is looking weak. He hasn’t organised a clear succession and is presiding over a worsening economy. By destabilising the country, a rival would be piling on the pressure.

This is the alternative explanation for the Aktobe attacks that the gov- ernment doesn’t want discussed.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Gunmen target Kazakhstan

ALMATY, JUNE 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — An estimated two dozen gunmen attacked two arms shops and a police post in Aktobe, northwest Kazakhstan, killing at least six people, attacks that Kazakh officials quickly linked to Islamic militants.

Four gunman were also killed in the initial attacks and another 14 were killed over the next four days as security forces hunted the group.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev called a national day of mourning for June 9 and ordered security forces across the country to mobilise to a high level of alert.

“According to the information that we possess, this terrorist act was organised by supporters of radical pseudo-religious movements. They received their instructions from abroad,” he said in a statement on June 8. Kazakh authorities have previously used this terminology as code for Islamic militants.

These are the worst attacks in Kazakhstan’s 25 years of independence from the Soviet Union. They also come at a highly sensitive time with the economy performing poorly mainly because of low oil prices and unrest growing amongst ordinary Kazakhs. There is also a growing sense of unease that Mr Nazarbayev hasn’t effectively organised a succession, creating a potential leadership vacuum.

There have been no claims of responsibility from any groups for the attacks. Mr Nazarbayev blamed the attacks on people who wanted to destabilise the government.

“In countries where these revolutions succeeded, there is no longer a working state and stability, only rampant poverty and banditry that create conditions for the emergence of extremists and terrorists,” he said.

If confirmed that Islamic militants were behind the attacks, this will be Mr Nazarbayev’s worst nightmare. Security forces have been worried for at least half a decade that Islamic militant recruitment in the west of the country, which has a high proportion of frustrated young men, was rising. Links have developed between the anti-Russia insurgency in the North Caucasus and west Kazakhstan and also between the radical group ISIS in Iraq and Syria and Kazakhstan.

Some analysts have said, though, that the attackers may have been organised from within by disgruntled members of the Kazakh elite who want to destabilise the government.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Taliban threatens Uzbekistan

MAY 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Taliban forces attacked a border post in Afghanistan in the Kaldar district just a few kilometres south of the border with Uzbekistan. The Uzbek government has long feared a spillover of fighting between Taliban or other rebel forces and Afghanistan’s army into its southern regions.

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(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Kazakhstan blocks Tumblr

APRIL 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s government blocked the blogging platform Tumblr because of concerns it was being used by Islamic extremists to recruit and groom young men to join the radical IS group in Syria and Iraq. Kazakh media quoted security forces as saying that IS used Tumblr to build its various propaganda websites. Governments in Central Asia have been accused of being a soft-touch for IS recruiters.

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(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

Coup trials start in Tajikistan

APRIL 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Tajikistan sentenced Alisher Nazarov, nephew of former deputy defence minister Abdukhalim Nazarzoda to 3-1/2 years in prison, in what marks the beginning of a series of trials of people accused of a coup attempt last September. Nazarzoda, who allegedly led the armed insurrection, was reportedly killed on Sept. 15 by the Tajik army. The apparent coup attempt lead to a crackdown on Islamists across the country and a ban on supporting religious parties.

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(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Tajik migrant workers appear to be most vulnerable to IS recruitment

MARCH 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – DUSHANBE — In an apparent effort to shift responsibility for radicalisation away from Tajikistan, the Tajik Prosecutor General, Yusuf Rakhmon, said that around 85% of Tajik citizens who have joined IS in Syria and Iraq were migrant workers recruited in Russia.

Mr Rakhmon also told the state- owned Jumuhuriyat newspaper that official calculations showed 1,094 Tajik citizens fighting for IS.

Tajikistan has been criticised recently for being a soft touch for IS recruiters. Last year a highly regarded Tajik police chief, who had previously travelled to the United States on training missions, joined IS, handing the extremist group one of its biggest publicity coups.

Mr Rakhmon’s comments are important as, although independent research has suggested that disgruntled Tajik migrant workers who have been losing their jobs in the Russian recession are vulnerable to IS recruitment, there has previously been no official acknowledgement of the issue.

Also, the number of Tajik recruits to IS is higher than Mr Rakhmon has previously noted. In June, he said that there were around 400 Tajik fighters with IS. This was updated in November by the Tajik security service which said that 700 Tajiks had joined IS, although 300 had been killed.

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(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Tajikistan tightens security at mosques

MARCH 28 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — The Tajik authorities ordered mosques in Dushanbe to improve security by installing CCTV and metal detectors, a move that sceptics said was actually aimed at clamping down on pious Muslims who officials view with increasing unease.

Mahmadsaid Ubaydulloev, Dushanbe city mayor, said the extra surveillance was needed to ensure public safety in the city and that mosques would have to buy the kit with cash from their own budgets.

This is a continuation of a policy of tightening security around mosques in Tajikistan.

A month ago, Tajik authorities ordered mosques to police their prayers for extremists. The government is increasingly worried about radicals infiltrating mosques and either recruiting young men to join the extremist IS group in Syria or inciting revolution. Last year, the government banned the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan and arrested its leaders and activists in what free speech advocates have described as clamp down on human rights.

And pious Muslims in Tajikistan have complained of increased harassment too, including being forced to shave long beards. They told The Conway Bulletin’s Dushanbe correspondent that the latest move to install extra security is merely aimed at making life even more difficult.

Umedjon, a 36-years old salesman, said that he does not feel free to pray. “Instead of focusing on praying, I have to think about how I am praying in order not to get in trouble with the authorities. If they install metal detectors and cameras, the mosque will become a constrained place for praying,” he said as he left one of central Dushanbe’s mosques.

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(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Turkmenistan Pres. orders massive military exercise

MARCH 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered a massive military exercise to check the readiness of Turkmenistan’s army. The exercise involved land, aerial and naval forces. Recent skirmishes along the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border may have prompted the decision to call a large-scale show of strength.

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(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)