Uzbekistan: Neighbourhood Watch

Uzbeks who have worked abroad, or women who wear the hijab, are finding themselves under close surveillance as mahalla, or neighbourhood committees, become unofficial organs of state security in the wake of explosions which killed 47 people in the spring.

Drawing on the Uzbek tradition of good neighbourliness, mahallas are intended to enable local self-government. They are run by heads who must be elected and also employ a secretary and a community police officer. With 9,789 mahallas covering the whole country, they are well-placed to act as the eyes and ears of police and other agencies.

In the immediate aftermath of the spring bombings, the Uzbek parliament made a direct appeal for vigilance. Deputies openly urged Uzbeks to cooperate with law-enforcement agencies in keeping tabs on those who "conceal their goals behind the mask of religion".

Their statement continued, "Our duty is to protect our home, mahalla and country. Every person who lives in our country, independent of race, language and religion, has a responsibility to prevent such crimes on our sacred land."

Nazira Ismailova, head of mahalla No 8 in Bukhara, where one of the spring explosions took place, confirmed that around ten per cent of the 2,500 people in her mahalla were placed on a list soon afterwards.

Izmailova says that the list of "suspects" was compiled in close collaboration with the district police officer, Normurod Baraev, and placed in a special folder. “This folder contains a list of suspect families," she said. "These people have not yet committed any illegal acts, but we still put them on the list and we target them for crime prevention."

Ismailova's list includes two women who sell goods in the local marketplace, who became suspects because they wear the hijab, associated with strong Islamic beliefs.

“We haven’t yet noticed any bad behaviour on their part. They are very timid in themselves, but we still keep an eye on them," she said. "We visit their homes and ask them about problems with their children and families, in a way which doesn't arouse suspicion.”

Women wearing hijab have been feeling increasingly vulnerable as they are singled out for questioning. “The heads of the mahalla and district police officers kept questioning us, telling us that we are not supposed to wear a hijab. They wanted to put our names on the list of suspects, and record us in the computer database,” said a woman who works at the market, adding that some women removed their hijabs as a result. "They didn’t say that we had to take them off, but their constant questioning pushed us to do so."

"The police approached all the women in hijabs and demanded to see their passports," said another woman. "When I asked why they needed my details, they said it was because I wear a hijab. They said, 'take off your hijab, or bring us your passport'. I have a family and children, so I don't want problems with the police.”

In the last month, Shukhrat Ganiev, a human rights activist in Bukhara, has received 25 accounts of human rights violations by mahalla and district inspectors across the municipality.

“The repressive functions of the police have been partially transferred to the mahalla," he said. "We have a body which can inform on people, which can report was is happening within a block of flats, or even an individual family.”

mahalla personnel have also accompanied police as they arrest those charged with violating article 159 of the criminal code - undermining the constitution.

On June 25, Mukhtar Urumbaev was arrested by 17 law-enforcement officers, who burst into his home and charged him with the aforementioned offence. Later that day, his relatives, Meliboy Sakhobov and Vahob Abdumansurov, were similarly charged.

The families of the men said that Mahmud Begmatov, head of their mahalla, arrived with the police. “They appealed to him to do something, to help them, but he was silent and left as soon as the arrests had been made,” said Bakhtier Hamraev of the Uzbekistan Human Rights Society.

Begmatov denied that he took part in Urumbaev’s arrest, but confirmed his involvement in other police raids. “The police came to my office and asked me to accompany them. I knew in advance that people were to be arrested," he told IWPR.

Those mahalla heads focussing most attention on people they deem "too religious” find favour with the local authorities, who pay the salaries of the mahalla head and the secretary.

“We have no choice but to act as an executive body of local power. We must obey current law. If the mahalla could support itself financially, there would no conflict of interest with the city administration,” said Sadullo Sharipov, head of a mahalla in Samarkand.

As the net widens, mahalla members themselves are also under the microscope. Deputy president of the mahalla elders association in Samarkand, Khalil Shodiev, was regularly summoned to municipal headquarters for talks with National Security Service, NSS, representatives.

“NSS representatives wanted to know if any people in the mahalla were dissatisfied with government policy. I said many people were unhappy. I explained how they often don’t receive salaries, pensions or any state benefits. Also how the rising price of basic services is affecting peoples' moods," he said.

The NSS representatives were mainly interested in religious people, asking if anyone with extreme views had distributed leaflets or drugs in the mahallas.

Many believe that the recruitment of mahallas in the fight against extremism is merely helping to fuel it. "These activities are not an effective means of preventing terrorism, they are a way of extending oppression in our society," said Hamraev.