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| Central Asia |
| Hizb ut-Tahrir growing in Central Asia |
| 2003-02-07 |
| Officials in the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are resorting to repressive measures in an effort to counteract the clandestine activity of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamic group. Despite the officials’ increasingly coercive measures, one regional analyst has described the radical group as "growing like a hydra." Or maybe a cancer... Over the past several years, Uzbekistan has severely curtailed freedom of religious expression, arresting thousands of individuals, nearly all of them Muslims, for allegedly engaging in the propagation of radical Islamic ideas. Now it appears that authorities in neighboring Central Asian states are ready to follow Tashkent’s lead in cracking down. Official concern about increasing Hizb ut-Tahrir activity was underscored by the January 30 discovery by authorities in northern Tajikistan of an underground printing press. During the raid, in Tajikistan’s Soghd Province, authorities discovered high-tech desktop publishing equipment and confiscated over 31,000 copies of books, pamphlets and leaflets. Three men, alleged Hizb members, were taken into custody in connection with the illicit publishing operation. This would be the stage where they're setting up the supporting infrastructure, prior to widescale recruitment... The focal point of Hizb activity is the Ferghana Valley, Central Asia’s most fertile region, which is shared by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Poverty in the overcrowded valley is widespread. Gauging Hizb membership and support in Central Asia is difficult. However, Hizb activists have claimed that up to 100,000 Muslims have been interned in Uzbekistan on the basis of their religious beliefs. But such claims have not been independently verified. That doesn't say they're Hizb members, and I'd guess the numbers are inflated at least ten times. You can't be an oppressed Muslim without at least some kind of oppression to point to... The Hizb advocates the non-violent overthrow of existing governments in Central Asia and the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the region. Everybody wants a caliphate. And they're always "non-violent" — until the explosions start... There are indications that since the September 11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent US-led campaign against terrorism, the Hizb is becoming more confrontational in its approach. Pamphlets recently confiscated by Tajik authorities contained anti-American slogans and voiced support for a potential jihad against the West. What else? You can't be an Islamist unless you're off on jihad against the West... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #1 The focal point of Hizb activity is the Ferghana Valley, Central Asia’s most fertile region, which is shared by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Poverty in the overcrowded valley is widespread. Their biggest problem is their centralized kleptocracy, er, Bureaucracy, which would let the poeple keep the benefits of their fertile land. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2003-02-07 09:02:39 |