Tag Archives: security

IRPT are terrorists says Tajik court

SEPT. 29 2015, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s High Court decreed the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) a terrorist organisation and banned it, wiping the only real opposition party from the country.

The high court statement published by the Khovar state news agency accused the IRPT of committing crimes of terrorist acts and spreading provocative materials.

Pressure on the IRPT has been building.

The General Prosecutor’s Office earlier accused the IRPT leadership of involvement in double attacks on police checkpoints last month that killed two dozen people. It said the mastermind of the attacks had been deputy defence minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda.

Police also detained Buzurgmehr Yorov, an IRPT lawyer, after he started defending 13 top party members arrested for the attacks. Mr Yorov has reportedly been charged with fraud and corruption crimes.

Earlier this year, the Tajik authorities also prosecuted Group 24, another political party that it deemed to be plotting against it.

An analyst who declined to be named said: “It is the sign of zero tolerance of any kind of political opposition, no matter whether they are religious or secular. Tajikistan has now become a one-party state.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Extremists claim to control Tajik border

SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Islamic Jihad Union, an Al- Qaeda splinter group, said that it now controlled part of the border zone with Tajikistan and Afghanistan. This claim could not be independently verified but the media did say that the Islamic Jihad Union had reportedly released photos of armed men around the Amu Darya river on the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

US sends kit to Tajik forces

SEPT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US embassy in Dushanbe donated tactical military equipment worth $260,000 to the Tajik special security forces (OMON) to use against drug traffickers in the south of the country, local media reported. The donation is controversial because Tajikistan has previously used its special forces against government opponents.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Tajikistan accuses IRPT of attacks

SEPT. 20 2015, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik security forces detained 13 leaders from the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) and accused them of being linked to attacks this month that killed two dozen people.

Pressure has been mounting on the IRPT, the only real opposition party in Tajikistan, over the past few months. It’s leader, Muhiddin Kabiri, has fled into exile and the ministry of justice has said that the IRPT has to disband because it lacks members.

Now, the Tajik authorities have allegedly seized documents from IRPT office in Dushanbe that proves it was involved in attacks apparently lead by a disgruntled former deputy defence minister.

The IRPT denied links to attacks on two police stations on Sept. 4.

And on the streets of Dushanbe, this is view shared by some residents.

“I don’t think that IRPT are involved. The government is apparently getting rid of former Civil War opposition members,” a Dushanbe resident called Yahyo said.

A Dushanbe analyst agreed and said that Pre.s Rakhmon had used the attacks to get rid of opponents.

“Rakhmon will further centralise the regime with these lies being his main tool,” he said, anonymously.

The authorities also said they killed Gen. Abduhalim Nazarzoda, the ex-deputy defence minister blamed for organising the attacks (Sept. 19).

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Ukraine complains to Kazakhstan over map

SEPT. 25 2015, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Ukraine’s embassy in Astana sent an official protest note to the Kazakh foreign ministry after a school text book published a map of Russia showing the annexed region of Crimea to be firmly within its borders.

The map touched off a row that not only threatens to derail relations between Ukraine and Kazakhstan but also highlights the sensitive diplomatic tightrope that former Soviet states have to walk. Russia is the main economic driver of growth in Central Asia but Kazakhstan, and others, also need to maintain good relations with the West which firmly backs the Ukrainian government against the Kremlin.

“The Ukrainian Embassy has sent a note of protest to Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry because school books issued by the Mektep publishing house say the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a federal subject of the Russian Federation,” Ukraine’s statement said.

“The distribution of this information contradicts the position of the international community and Kazakhstan that has repeatedly stated its support to Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”

Mektep is one of the biggest publishers of school textbooks in Kazakhstan. Its textbooks are used across the country and are based on the school curriculum.

The map, published in a geography textbook aimed at 16-year-olds earlier this year, showed Crimea as part of Russia.

Crimea quit Ukraine last year after a referendum overwhelmingly supported joining Russia. The referendum, though, has not been recognised by Kiev or its Western allies. Since then a civil war in the east of Ukraine has pushed relations between the West and Russia to a post-Cold War low.

Only a few countries, such as Syria, North Korea and Venezuela recognise Crimea as part of Russia. Kazakhstan, officially, has been careful not to recognise it as part of Russia.

When contacted by a Bulletin correspondent in Kazakhstan, the Mektep publishing house declined to comment. A couple of the book’s authors had previously spoken to RFE/RL, though.

They defended the map by saying that it wasn’t meant to be a political statement but instead to reflect the results of last year’s referendum.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Japan and Kazakhstan push on nuclear test ban

SEPT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Japan and Kazakhstan will co-chair a conference in New York later this month which will push for a comprehensive ban on nuclear testing, UN official Lassina Zerbo told Japan Times in an interview. Both countries have a vested interested in nuclear issues. The US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945 towards the end of World War 2. Kazakhstan sees itself as the champion of anti-nuclear issues.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Armenia accuses Azerbaijan on civilian killing

SEPT. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia-backed authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh accused Azerbaijan of shelling a civilian area and killing three women. The accusation marks a heightening of tension around the disputed region. Violence is a feature of the region but civilian deaths are not common.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Georgian soldier dies in Afghan

SEPT. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Georgian soldier, Private Vasil Kuljanishvili, was killed while on patrol outside Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, Georgia’s ministry of defence said. Kuljanishvili’s death means that 31 Georgian soldiers have died in Afghanistan supporting US operations against the Taliban. Georgia wants to join NATO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Tajikistan says ex-minister killed

SEPT. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s interior ministry said security forces had killed the fugitive former deputy defence minister Gen. Abduhalim Mirzo Nazarzoda after a manhunt spanning nearly a fortnight. The authorities in Tajikistan have accused Nazarzoda of masterminding two attacks on police stations in Dushanbe and a nearby town on Sept. 4 that killed two dozen people.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)

Comment: Internal issues, not external, are trigger for violence in Tajikistan

SEPT. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In Central Eurasia and the Caspian region, IS may not be a direct threat today but it could be in the future because many of the factors that create homegrown terrorism are already present. These are mainly the presence of foreign fighters from the Middle East and the influence of recruiters, particularly spread on Internet.

But importantly, and this is often overlooked, the penetration of politicised and radical [neo-] Salafism into pluralistic local Sunni- Hanafi doctrine and practice should be taken into account.

We should analyse thoroughly the factors that brought about IS into the Middle East to draw lessons on how to prevent the outbreak of similar cases in our region. Terrorism waged for the sake of seemingly religious aims cannot develop without a particular political conjuncture, social and psychological grounding.

Many analyses of terrorism have overlooked the psychological factor — the existence of hurt psychology and phenomenon of self- estrangement — in would-be radical militants. The mental prison of takfiri ideology produced by radical neo-Salafism incorporates the foundations of the above mentioned psychological factor. This factor is often coupled with the brutalisation of human nature.

Takfirism is a brand of radical neo-Salafism whose adherents accuse all other Muslims of unbelief and apostasy. Neo-Salafism is itself politicised, centralist, fond of a uniformity set of teaching which inculcates the siege mentality.

Consequently, we should be aware of the ongoing process of the penetration of neo-Salafist teachings in post-Soviet Sunni Muslim communities. The neutralisation of neo-Salafism in Central Eurasia would have been much more productive if it had not been the influence of some foreign actors. We cannot help but suspect the financial leverage of some states where political regimes are, at least, sympathetic to neo-Salafism.

Second, we should heed the phenomenon of the existence of how traumatised psychology shaped either by post-Soviet criminal under-culture or oppressive politics of highly authoritarian regimes.

We shouldn’t also forget that IS flourishes in the Middle East where the large communities of Sunni Muslims have become subject to brutalisation by oppressive and sectarian regimes.

By Galym Zhussipbek, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Suleyman Demirel University in Almaty

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 248, published on Sept. 18 2015)