Global News Post: Kyrgyzstan

Tablighi Jamaat Worries Kyrgyz Public, Officials Say

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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Little-studied missionary movement not banned in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:country-region></st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt;">By Bakyt Ibraimov<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">OSH</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> – The activities of Davaatist missionaries in southern <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:country-region></st1:place> have raised the eyebrows of the general public and the government.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Yodgorbek, 23, a fifth-year university student from a family of Kyrgyz intellectuals, was surprised when strangers knocked on his door in October.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“I opened the door and was stunned to see two men in white robes and cheap Chinese slippers standing in front of me,” he said. “They greeted me and invited me to go along to the nearest mosque; I told them I would later.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">They came again twice, but he would not open the door fearing they would rebuke him for not going to the mosque to perform namaz prayers, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Believing in Allah is everyone’s private affair, but we must call on people to attend religious services because it’s everyone’s duty to resist the forces of religious extremism and terrorism,” Zhusupzhan Kadyrbekov, 33, a Davaatist from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Osh</st1:place></st1:city>, told Central Asia Online.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Together with his “brethren” from Tabligh Jamaat, he said, he preaches knowledge of true Islam among Muslims and those who still do not believe in Allah.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">No one has looked closely enough at Davaatist activities, said Timur Kozukulov, an instructor in the history of religion and law in the theology department of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Osh</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">State</st1:placetype>  <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“It’s still not clear what specifically they preach or what kind of knowledge they are conveying,” he said. “Scholars have held discussions and round-table debates to analyse different religious movements, among them Tabligh Jamaat, and their potentially negative effects on people’s conscience.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It is important to understand to what extent Davaatism matches the Kyrgyz people’s mindset, Kozukulov said, adding that only after considering Davaatist traditions, habits and faith can one decide how acceptable their approach is to Kyrgyz Muslims.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Ideology from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The religious ideology that Davaatists disseminate comes from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Kurbanaly Uzakov, southern spokesman for the State Commission on Religious Affairs, said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“The Tabligh Jamaat leadership has its headquarters in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>,” he said. “Those preachers’ activities in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:country-region> are not officially banned, so they operate fully legally here, while being considered an extremist organisation in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Kazakhstan</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Uzbekistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">According to several sources, the Tabligh Jamaat began in <st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> in the 1920s to preserve Islam in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and throughout the years has refused to affiliate itself with any political or juridical philosophy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Full-scale monitoring of their preaching is impossible and no guarantee against their dissemination of religious extremism exists, Uzakov noted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Nobody blocks Tabligh Jamaat in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, so the number of followers of this foreign ideology has grown day by day to reach at least 10,000 in the south alone,” he said. “As a rule, poorer people ... trust the Davaatists.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The itinerant preachers can be irritating to those with less commitment to Islam, said Buzeinep Iskhakova, a teacher at High School No. 18 in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Osh</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Davaatists kept coming to our home to take along my husband, and then my son, to some sort of religious discussions and to the mosque to pray; now my own family members themselves are going around the neighbourhood and preaching,” she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Neighbours in her apartment building have complained about her husband making other men pray and read the Koran, she said, adding his activities already have ruined her relationships with quite a few neighbours.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Not a direct threat to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, some say<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Tabligh Jamaat poses no direct threat (to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:country-region></st1:place>), Kadyr Malikov, director of the Religion, Law and Politics Centre in Bishkek, told Central Asia Online.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“This religious movement is apolitical,” he said. “It doesn’t interfere in the country’s internal affairs, doesn’t call on Muslims to commit extremism or terrorism, and unlike Hizb-ut Tahrir ... it doesn’t attempt to establish its own version of an Islamic caliphate here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">But not all of the Davaatists are sufficiently educated, and their religious ignorance and proselytising irritate some, while their non-Kyrgyz clothing strikes the public as odd, he noted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">He did not support an outright ban, however.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">“Outlawing Tabligh Jamaat in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:place></st1:country-region> as neighbouring countries have done may cause its followers to go underground, with some of them joining extremist movements,” he said.--- Central Asia Online<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Tablighi Jamaat Worries Kyrgyz Public, Officials Say

Little-studied missionary movement not banned in Kyrgyzstan By Bakyt Ibraimov OSH – The activities of Davaatist missionaries in souther...

Kyrgyzstan PM Leads Presidential Vote

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Kyrgyzstan</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">'s Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev is poised to become president after taking a commanding lead in the country's first presidential election since last year's bloody uprising ousted the government.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">With nearly all of the first-round votes counted, official results have the Moscow-backed Mr. Atambayev far ahead of 15 other candidates, with 63 percent of the vote. That is enough for an outright majority and avoids the need for a runoff.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Other candidates, including former boxer Kachimbek Tashiyev and Adakhan Madumarov are accusing officials of fabricating the results. Some candidates are also complaining of other problems, including people voting more than once, ballot box stuffing and authorities refusing to let voters register. International observers said they were “cautiously optimistic” about the future of democracy in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Mr. Atambayev says he will seek a path of consensus in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Kyrgyzstan</span></st1:country-region><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> hosts both <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> and Russian military bases and is a crucial hub for NATO operations in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Some of the candidates have promised to respect the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> base lease, which expires in 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Sunday's election comes a year after nationwide protests against corruption and poverty led to the ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. His overthrow sparked violence between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks, leaving hundreds dead and entire towns in ruins. ---VOA News<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Kyrgyzstan PM Leads Presidential Vote

Kyrgyzstan 's Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev is poised to become president after taking a commanding lead in the country's first...

Voters in Kyrgyzstan Cast Presidential Ballots

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Voters in the turbulent Central Asian nation of <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</place></country-region> are going to the polls in the first presidential election since the deadly 2010 uprising that toppled former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Pre-election polls showed moderate ex-Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev, a wealthy businessman from the north, leading 15 other candidates in Sunday's multi-party election. His main challengers were the ousted president's former Emergency Minister Kamchibek Tashiyev and former Speaker of Parliament Adakhan Madumarov. Both candidates are from the south.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Just days ahead of the polls, analysts said it was unclear if Mr. Atambayev would secure the 50 percent of votes needed to win outright. A runoff vote is expected for mid-November.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Interim President Roza Otunbayeva, who has led the country since Bakiyev was ousted, is not running for office.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Voting Sunday was reported brisk in the capital, Bishkek.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><country-region w:st="on"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Kyrgyzstan</span></country-region><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"> hosts both <country-region w:st="on">U.S.</country-region> and Russian military bases and is a crucial hub for NATO operations in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Afghanistan</place></country-region>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">On the campaign trail, the top three leading candidates have said they would respect the <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">U.S.</place></country-region> base lease, which expires in 2014. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Less controversial is a Russian base on the other side of Bishkek, a legacy of Soviet days.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Geography divides the mountainous ex-Soviet country between north and south, and ethnicity further splits the population of 5.5 million.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Last year, in Kyrgyz cities bordering <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Uzbekistan</place></country-region>, rioting broke out between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks. When the fight was over, about 500 people were dead, thousands were wounded and thousands of houses were in ruins.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Earlier this month, Mr. Atambayev traveled to <city w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Moscow</place></city> where he met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He is the only candidate to win such an audience. Kremlin approval is key in a country where one-quarter of adult males work in <country-region w:st="on"><place w:st="on">Russia</place></country-region>. ---VOA News </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
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Voters in Kyrgyzstan Cast Presidential Ballots

Voters in the turbulent Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan are going to the polls in the first presidential election since the deadly 2010 ...

One in Four Mosques Face Closure in Osh

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</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">NNN- A newly-built mosque stands tall, overlooking the city of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Osh</st1:place></st1:city> where there are close to 722 mosques. The main religious authority in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kyrgyzstan</st1:place></st1:country-region> has given orders for the closure of 177 mosques for operating without state permission. <st1:city w:st="on">Osh</st1:city> - one of the oldest settlements in <st1:place w:st="on">Central Asia</st1:place> with deep Islamic roots - is the second largest in the country after Bishkek and is often referred to as the “capital of the south”. Officials with the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Osh</st1:place></st1:city> regional Muslim directorate say that the imams leading the unregistered mosques are not a threat and are appointees of local religious leaders. In July 2011, the government banned children's classes at local mosques and using mosques for residential purposes. Photo courtesy: rferl.org ---NNN<o:p></o:p></span></i></div></div>

One in Four Mosques Face Closure in Osh

NNN- A newly-built mosque stands tall, overlooking the city of Osh where there are close to 722 mosques. The main religious authority...