Locals complained that people with long beards and unusual clothes worry them and asked the authorities to take measures,” he said. “Following complaints from the locals, I told them that we value peace and quiet in the region and they disturb it. Jalalabad mayor Duishonaly Mamasaliev said he recently confronted Dawat-e-Islami members. Whatever their numbers, the organisation’s followers seem intent on expanding their group in a campaign which is not going down well with locals. None of the organisations IWPR turned to for information - including the local administration, the state agency for religious affairs and local religious bodies - was able to give approximate numbers of Dawat-e-Islami members. Law enforcement agencies suspect that followers of the group are financed from abroad and have political goals in the region, but so far there is no evidence to support this claim. Kadyrbek Bechelov, head of the department for defence, security and liaison with law enforcement bodies at the Jalalabad regional administration, said it was important not to label all Dawat-e-Islami members as a security threat, as this could harm its genuinely devout members.īut he added that “there are elements among them who use cover of Dawat-e-Islami to pursue their own suspect aims of an extremist nature”. He told IWPR that some parents have complained to the authorities that followers of the organisation recruited children against the will of their parents. The authorities are concerned that Dawat-e-Islami represents a security threat, after hearing reports that some members had trained abroad.Īccording to the head of public relations at Jalalabad regional administration Orozaly Karasartov, “Many of them have had training in extremist organisations based in Pakistan.” It is thought to have a presence in around 60 countries. It took roots in the north, where the population is predominantly Kyrgyz, and where religion is less conspicuous than in the south - which has a substantial Uzbek community. Most of its members are thought to be ethnic Uzbeks.ĭawat-e-Islami stands apart from these movements as it was brought into the country by Pakistani missionaries.
While its main base is now in Western Europe, it still has large followings in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Hizb-ut-Tahrir members reject violence, but proclaimed their immediate goal as setting up an Islamic state in Fergana valley.Īlthough the influence of the IMU seems to have faded following the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan where the group was based, Hizb ut-Tahrir still enjoys strong support. The IMU declared its political aim was to overthrow Uzbek president Islam Karimov’s secular regime. The political aspirations of these groups alarmed the authorities, prompting them to ban both. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a radical political organisation, with an international presence, whose long-term aim to unite all Muslim countries in a pan Islamic state or caliphate. The IMU, a home-grown militant group, made armed incursions in 19 into southern Kyrgyzstan in an attempt to cross into Uzbek territory. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the densely populated region of southern Kyrgyzstan has been targeted by Islamic groups, such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, IMU, and Hizb ut-Tahrir. However, others say that Dawatists - who view their mission as educating people about the life of the Prophet Mohammed - have been a unifying force between the north and south of the country and have encouraged people to become more devout. People in southern Kyrgyzstan are annoyed at a growing campaign by religious organisation Dawat-e-Islami (Invitation to Islam) to recruit more supporters by approaching people in the street and calling at their houses.Ĭritics of the group say its members, who are mainly Kyrgyz from the north of Kyrgyzstan, pose a threat to security in the south and accuse them of preaching without a solid knowledge of Islam. While some have welcomed the attempts of an Islamic group to recruit new members in southern Kyrgyzstan, others view it as a nuisance and a potential security threat.
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