Rasht

Tajik Prez Speaks Sense About Militants

October 27, 2010 - 2:18am, by George Camm

After more than a month of anemic attempts by Tajik authorities to link militants fighting in the Rasht Valley to al Qaeda, President Emomali Rakhmon has suddenly dismissed rumors – started by his own people – that the country is under threat from international terror groups, Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency reports.

"Taking part in the Rasht district events were citizens of former Soviet republics, foremost Tajik citizens," Rakhmon stated. He referred to the special operation by the republic's law-enforcement bodies to neutralize illegal paramilitary formations that began on September 22.

According to the Tajik leader, there have been no breakthroughs by the Taliban or al Qaeda into the eastern part of Tajikistan.

Earlier, law-enforcement representatives officially stated that there were foreign mercenaries from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Russian Federation fighting on the side of the militants.

Foreign pundits have eagerly rallied around Tajik assertions that foreign Islamic terrorists have descended on the country. Citing government officials, for example, London’s Telegraph reported last week that al Qaeda had set up training camps in the mountainous former Soviet republic on Afghanistan’s poorly guarded northern border.

War on Terror Tajik-Style: Shave Those Beards

October 21, 2010 - 1:34pm, by George Camm

If you wear a beard in Tajikistan, you must be a terrorist. At least, that’s what some authorities appear to believe. In their latest effort to stamp out expressions of Islam in the country, police have begun detaining bearded men, according to local press reports.

Though the chairman of the State Committee for Religious Affairs has denied the existence of any injunction against beards, a recent article by Dushanbe’s Asia-Plus news agency documents testimony from several men detained for having beards. Muslim men often grow beards out of reverence for the Prophet Mohammed.

One (formerly?) bearded Dushanbe resident described his detention:

"[Police] explained that [my detention] was connected with anti-terror measures. Is it normal to see a terrorist in every bearded man? Logically, a terrorist would not wear a beard to avoid attracting attention, knowing how such people are being treated nowadays. However, what should we do, we who have no extremist views and are just fulfilling the sunnahs [following the practices of the Prophet]? For me the beard is a sunnah, which I want to and should fulfill. When I tried to explain that, they said that I could live in Pakistan, for example, if I am not satisfied with the laws of this country.”

RFE/RL reports:

Looking for Enemies in Tajikistan’s Rasht Valley

September 23, 2010 - 1:09am, by George Camm

It would be much simpler if all of Tajikistan’s former opposition commanders would just admit they are working in cahoots against the government and are responsible for this week’s slaughter of 25 soldiers in the eastern Rasht district.

But Dushanbe isn’t waiting for their confession. Tajik authorities have decided on their culprit and shot up his house on September 22, killing at least five and sending everyone else fleeing for the mountains. If they didn’t have a reason to fight, they do now.

True, the house’s owner, Mirzokhuja Ahmadov, is regularly fingered for anti-government activities. A commander during Tajikistan’s 1992-1997 civil war, which left tens of thousands dead, he has lived an uneasy peace since. He’s one of the many former commanders promised a place in the government after the 1997 peace treaty, only to be squeezed out later. It is unclear if he survived the rocket assault on his home.

Either way, this looks like an operation for kid gloves lest the government start a conflict it cannot finish:

Sources inside the Rasht district, which is about 200 kilometers east of Dushanbe, told RFE/RL that after the attack on Ahmadov's house another former opposition commander, Shoh Iskandarov, had reportedly joined the militants.

Tajikistan: Mullo Abdullo Again?

September 16, 2010 - 1:03pm, by George Camm

Last summer, Tajik authorities used the pretext of a poppy eradication campaign – in the poppy-less Rasht Valley – to hunt for the elusive Abdullo Rakhimov, a.k.a. Mullo Abdulloh, a United Tajik Opposition (UTO) commander during Tajikistan’s 1990s civil war. He was reportedly hiding in the region after years of monkey business in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

They never found him.

But they did find former UTO commander and ex-Minister of Emergency Situations Mirzo Ziyoev. Ziyoev was killed in a shootout near his home in Tavildara in July 2009. Authorities argued that Ziyoev’s own men shot and killed him in a last-minute betrayal during a gun battle with government forces.

Some of the guys who escaped in a recent high-profile jailbreak were Ziyoev’s relatives. While the manhunt continues to focus on Rasht, local media report that the heads of Tajikistan’s security ministries are in the area sniffing around, accompanied by hundreds of paratroopers arriving daily.

Such reports hint that Mullo Abdulloh and his followers are in the area. Could the mysterious Mullo again become a cover for operations in the opposition stronghold?

Rasht

Tajik Prez Speaks Sense About Militants

War on Terror Tajik-Style: Shave Those Beards

Looking for Enemies in Tajikistan’s Rasht Valley

Tajikistan: Mullo Abdullo Again?

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