Uzbekistan fights terrorism, not religion, analysts say

Source: centralasiaonline

TASHKENT – Uzbek government officials and analysts say fighting terrorism in Uzbekistan is not the same as imposing religious restrictions.

“Terrorists have claimed in their messages to the population that the government fights faithful Muslims on the pretext of fighting terrorism,” National Security Council (SNB) analyst Solim Shakhrukhov said. “Those statements are meant to attract the public to terrorist ideas under a disguise.”

“In line with the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations, any citizen of Uzbekistan is free to practise any religion or none at all,” Oliy Majlis Legislative Chamber member (Senator) Olimzhon Kurdibayev explained. “The state is secular and separated from religion and religious organisations. Prevalence of one religion over another is strictly forbidden, as are attempts to incite inter-ethnic strife, enmity or hatred toward representatives of other religions.”

Intolerance of other faiths is more characteristic of terrorists who have repeatedly called for expelling non-Muslims from Central Asia, Shakhrukhov said.

Uzbekistan’s Committee on Religious Affairs “ensures state co-operation with religious organisations and helps improve bilateral relations, relying on non-interference in the internal affairs of religious groups as an inviolable principle,” committee spokesman Shovkat Khamdamov said.

“At the same time, our committee is charged with preventing unlawful religious activities in the country,” he said. “We do not dictate to religious organisations what to do or how but report everything that could be classified as a violation of the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations Act to the law enforcement agencies.”

“If an organisation – whether Muslim or Krishna – is registered and obeys the law, we don’t have anything against it,” Shakhrukhov said. “But the threat of terrorism is still present in this country, as proven by numerous examples, so we can’t stop fighting terrorism.”

Government has made some arrests

Some of the recent successes against terrorism include:

An Uzbek male, Ismailov, was detained this year during a customs inspection of a Beinau-Kungrad train, Norgul Abduraimova of the Customs Committee said.

“He was carrying extremist literature in Uzbek and Arabic. One of the books with the apparently innocent title ‘Does God Need Us?’ had clearly proselytising content, as confirmed by experts at the Religious Affairs Committee,” she said.

An Uzbek woman, Farmonova, who flew in from Moscow was detained at the Bukhara airport in the summer for attempting to smuggle banned religious literature into Uzbekistan, Abduraimova said.

“In Tashkent in late August, we shut down an illegal extremist cell that was carrying out proselytising work, seizing 3,488 (banned) religious books and 435 CDs,” SNB officer Sherzod Kabdurakhmanov said.

Tolerance is part of government's plan

To fight terrorism (efficiently), the government needs to keep freedom of religion and inter-faith tolerance in mind, officials and analysts say.

“A total of 2,225 religious organisations of 16 different faiths are registered in Uzbekistan today,” Khamdamov said. “To strengthen bilateral relations, there is the specially established Public Council on Affairs of Different Faiths under the Religious Affairs Committee, involving representatives of the largest religious movements in the country. We can state with confidence that there are no inter-faith ... conflicts in today’s Uzbekistan.”

Members of different faiths agree.

“The Uzbeks are a very hospitable people,” Metropolitan Vladimir, head of the Central Asian Eparchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, said. “We are grateful to the people and government of Uzbekistan for letting us Christians live here in peace and harmony.”

“Jews came to settle on Uzbek soil nearly 2,000 years ago,” Boris Shimonov of the Tashkent synagogue said. “This country has become our homeland, and I see more and more local Jewish youth coming to our synagogue.”

“Uzbekistan is one big harmonious family, and we all – worshippers of different faiths and religions – seek to maximise our efforts on behalf of its prosperity,” said Dilyara Kadyrova, a board member at Avdet, the national cultural centre for Crimean Tatars.

And most agree with the crackdown on terror.

“Many at this difficult time would like to use religion in pursuit of their political goals,” Muhammad Yuldashev, head of the Department for Work with Muslim Spiritual Institutions at the Religious Affairs Committee, said. “Each of us, whether he is a Muslim or a Christian, a Jew or a Buddhist, must be vigilant and careful … and we all need to preserve this status quo and preserve peace and calm.”