Restraining Islamization

TAJIKISTAN SEEKS TO RESTRAIN ISLAMIZATION

By Suhrob Majidov (02/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)

During a meeting of Tajikistan’s Security Council on February 10, 2011, President Emomali Rahmon expressed concern about “the growth of religious-extremist feelings in the society”. According to the President, these “feelings” threaten national security and stability in Tajikistan.

As a result of the Security Council meeting, Emomali Rahmon instructed the State Committee on National Security, the Committee on Religious Affairs and other responsible state bodies “to strengthen explanatory work” among the population in order to curb the development of radical islamization. The President claimed that the rise of illegal religious-extremist groups in different parts of Tajikistan is supported by “their foreign patrons” and aim to overthrow the constitutional order in Tajikistan in a violent manner.

According to the President, there are two key issues which need to be resolved. The first issue relates to the operation of mosques. Emomali Rahmon believes that most of these operate illegally and that “the number of mosques exceeds the number of schools”. Another issue of concern to the President is that many students from Tajikistan study in illegal religious educational institutions in different Islamic countries. Thus, Emomali Rahmon urges relevant state bodies to make an effort to return these students to Tajikistan.

The relevant state and law-making bodies have taken previous initiatives to curb islamization by introducing several restrictive measures. The first was the introduction of new amendments to the Administrative Code. These amendments toughen the punishment for “illegal distribution” of religious literature. The authorities state that illegal religious literature comes to Tajikistan from Pakistan, Egypt and Iran. According to the regulations, the distribution of any religious literature is prohibited without special permission from the State Committee on Religious Affairs. The authorities believe that new regulations will help control the distribution of religious literature in Tajikistan.

The second step was a regulation of the operation of mosques. According to different sources, more than ten large mosques have already been closed in Dushanbe. According to a statement made by the State Committee on Religious Affairs, these mosques were closed since they have been operating illegally and were not registered with relevant state bodies. The imams of the closed mosques were warned that if they continue their sermons they will be considered criminally liable.

However, the closure of mosques stirred widespread discontent among religious leaders and ordinary believers. Imams of closed mosques assert that they have been operating for 30-40 years without any complaints from the authorities. Moreover, all the mosques were constructed by the means of hashar, i.e. the mosques was constructed for money donated by the believers themselves. Besides, the imams of closed mosques claim that they have been trying to officially register the mosques several times but relevant authorities refused to register them without offering any explanation.

The Committee on Religious Affairs under the Government of Tajikistan decided to go further in controlling the operation of mosques, teaching the imams how to deliver a sermon “in a correct way”. The head of the Committee Abdurahim Kholikov organized a meeting with the eight most well-known imams in the country. During the meeting, the Committee discussed the content of their sermons with the imams and pointed out “that most of them violate basic ethic principles and some contradict the law”. According to Kholikov, the imams took all the remarks into consideration and proposed the Committee to organize special training courses on legislative issues for imams.

Furthermore, the Committee on Religious Affairs announced that a special manual for imams will soon be published. The manual will be called “52 Friday sermons” and will be oriented at all heads of mosques: imams, khatibs and imam-khatibs. The manual will contain 52 themes for Friday sermons, one for each week of the year. According to the Committee, all the themes were determined by the special commission which was composed of theologists, relevant scientists and officials. The Committee expects that imams will not “digress” from the proposed themes.

Finally, the Minister of Education of Tajikistan Abdujabbor Rakhmonov signed a decree which prohibits teaching the discipline “Theory of Islam” in schools and ordered to remove this discipline from the school curriculum. This discipline was introduced to school curricula just recently, in September 2010. Instead of the “Theory of Islam” subject, the Ministry decided to increase the number of hours for the “History of the Tajik Nation” subject. As one representative of the Ministry declared “the history of Islam is tightly linked with the history of the Tajik nation”, therefore, it is enough to study the history of Tajik nation.

Tajik authorities have thus started a wide-ranging campaign on curbing radical islamization in the country. However, many experts agree that this campaign may result in active confrontation between the authorities and religious leaders supported by ordinary believers. Moreover, some experts assert that such efforts from the Government to curb islamization could worsen the situation further, inducing ordinary believers to take the side of radical extremists.

Source: http://www.cacianalyst.org/?q=node/5499

Hizb Arrests Worry Tajik Authorities

ARREST OF ALLEGED TWO HIZB UT-TAHRIR ACTIVISTS NEAR DUSHANBE WORRIES TAJIK AUTHORITIES

September 3, 2010

Tajik authorities are concerned that the arrest of two alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir activists in Yavan, a town 30 kilometers south of Dushanbe, indicates that the radical Muslim organization’s influence is moving southward, RIA-Novosti reported on 9 September. The two detainees, a Tajik man and a woman who is an Uzbek citizen, were reportedly distributing Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets that call for the overthrow of the Tajik government. An unidentified law enforcement official noted that previously Hizb ut-Tahrir activists have been arrested in Dushanbe, Khujand, and areas bordering Uzbekistan. According to the Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office, more than 30 Hizb ut-Tahrir activists have been arrested in Tajikistan this year. BB

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1142998.html

Pursuing 2 Mullo Abdullo Followers

Tajiks pursue 2 Mullo Abdullo followers

Staff Report
2011-04-20

DUSHANBE – Tajik authorities are pursuing two followers of slain insurgent commander Mullo Abdullo who escaped an April 14-16 government raid in eastern Tajikistan, AsiaPlus.tj reported April 20.

The government determined the pair concealed themselves as their comrades were killed in an April 15 battle with security forces, Deputy Interior Minister Saidzhon Dzhurakhonov said, adding that troops are searching for them in Rasht.

Government forces captured a third Abdullo supporter, Samsolik resident Mirkhudzhi Sharipov, in the east April 18. While being captured Sharipov resisted, killing a National Guardsman, Dzhurakhonov said.

Have Beard, Get Fingerprinted

Tajik police detained 30 men with beards

Staff Report
2011-01-08

 

DUSHANBE –Dushanbe police detained about 30 men for having beards, AsiaPlus reported January 8.

 

The police photographed and took fingerprints of the men, explaining that this was part of an anti-extremist raid. All were later freed.

New Border Security

Tajikistan says new border security strategy coming

By Stan Rogers
2011-01-07

 

DUSHANBE – Tajik Drug Control Agency (AKN) Director and Militia Lt. Gen. Rustam Nazarov said Tajikistan will approve a new strategy to secure its border with Afghanistan soon, CA-NEWS.org reported January 6, quoting an online chat between Nazarov and users of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tajik service.

 

The Tajik government has co-operated with the UN and other international organisations to strengthen border security, he said, adding that securing the Afghan border should be a priority even for countries that do not neighbour Afghanistan.

 

Tajik authorities, meanwhile, seized more than 110kg of narcotics in operations near the Afghan border and in Dushanbe, according to the Tajik Committee for National Security, CA-NEWS.org reported January 7. One Afghan suspect was killed during the operation near the border.

Tajik Kill Ali Bedaki

Tajik extremist Ali Bedaki killed in 4-hour battle

By Dilafruz Nabiyeva
For CentralAsiaOnline.com
2011-01-05

Elite police subdue a “terrorist” during a 2009 training exercise in Dushanbe. Special Forces killed terrorist Alovuddin Davlatov, aka Ali Bedaki, January 4. [Nazim Kalandarov]

DUSHANBE — A military operation in eastern Tajikistan killed extremist ringleader Alovuddin Davlatov (Ali Bedaki) and seven of his followers January 4. The government had accused Bedaki of involvement in the September 19 Komarob Gorge ambush that killed 28 troops in a military convoy.

Tajik Interior Ministry Chief of Staff Tokhir Normatov disclosed the deaths of Bedaki and his followers in a January 4 operation in the village of Runob, near Garm. Troops captured a ninth insurgent alive, he said. State TV aired images of the dead extremists and released their names.

Not all the dead had Rasht District roots, according to the Interior Ministry. Some were residents of Isfara.

The military operation began early the morning of January 4, when authorities learned that Bedaki’s group was hiding in a house in Runob, said Olim Odilov, a former member of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO).

“Only troops from special Interior Ministry units, the State Committee for National Security and the Defence Ministry participated,” he said. “It ended pretty quickly, with no casualties for government forces.”

The battle, though, reportedly lasted about four hours. Bedaki never signed the 1997 agreement that ended the Tajik civil war. In recent years, he farmed in his native village, Bedak, in Rasht District. He had been on the run since Dushanbe blamed him, along with former UTO field commanders Mirzokhudzhu Akhmadov and Abdullo Rakhimov (Mullo Abdullo), for the September 19 ambush. In two months of operations beginning September 22, government forces killed about 20 extremists while losing about 30 troops.

Bedaki appeared in a video posted on the internet in mid-November. Shot from a cell phone, it showed him and his followers. The video’s source identified it as footage of them crossing through mountains.

“Yes, Bedaki really was in that video, but by then we already knew he wouldn’t go far,” an official in the State Committee for National Security said on condition of anonymity. “After we conducted an operation on the Tajik-Afghan border to neutralise the August 23 Dushanbe prison escapees and the Afghans extradited some of them, we realised Bedaki wasn’t among them. That meant he was still in Tajikistan, so we decided to renew our searches in Rasht.”

Akhmadov, who surrendered to the government last autumn and promised to help find Bedaki, is now residing in his native village. He did not personally participate in the operation against Bedaki’s group, he said. “I observed that operation’s progress with several top security officials from about a half-kilometre away,” he said by phone.

Elimination of the Bedaki group will bring peace not only to the Rasht Valley but to all Tajikistan, he said.

“Anybody trying to serve his foreign benefactors by destabilising Tajikistan will be wiped out like Bedaki,” he said.

The compromise between the authorities and Akhmadov yielded positive results, political scientist Parviz Mullodzhanov said. “However, the longer-term fate of the region depends on how the two sides fulfil their sides of the bargain,” he said.

It’s premature to talk of complete peace in Rasht, military affairs correspondent Shakhobiddin Ziyeyev said. “In 2009, after a large group of IMU [Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan] members was wiped out in Tavildar and UTO commander Mirzo Ziyeyev … was killed, the Rasht region didn’t became any more stable,” he argued. “Besides, one mustn’t forget that Mullo Abdullo is still on the loose and has been for quite a while.”

Nonetheless, Bedaki’s death is a major breakthrough in establishing peace, he said.