Politics and Revenge in the Mountains

An armed confrontation in the mountains of eastern Tajikistan has been linked to wider tensions between the government and former opposition guerrillas.

In the remote town of Tajikabad, 120 kilometres from the capital Dushanbe, police on September 2 arrested Yeribek “the Sheikh” Ibrahimov and 20 other men accused of launching an attack on the local police station and the nearby prosecution service building.

Police said a lieutenant was killed and another police officer injured when five men raked the buildings with machine-gun fire and fired grenades at them on the night of August 27-28. Interior Minister Humdin Sharipov told journalists that Ibrahimov was arrested on suspicion he led the attackers.

When Ibrahimov was arrested, police also seized a cache of weapons which - if the reports are to be believed - could have equipped a small army. The arms found hidden in a cave included a multiple rocket launcher, 15 anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems, and assorted light weapons and ammunition.

The “Sheikh” used to be a guerrilla commander with the United Tajik Opposition, UTO, which fought a five-year conflict with the government ending in 1997. Under a peace deal, paramilitary forces were supposed to have disarmed and returned to civilian life. Interior ministry figures say Ibrahimov told them that the arms cache dates to the civil war years, but that some of the weapons may also have been left behind by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group which mounted raids into Uzbek border regions in 1999-2000.

Tajik TV showed Ibrahimov confessing to the attack but saying it was retaliation for the intolerable pressure he had been subjected to by police.

He was recently dismissed from his job as head of a collective farm, a position he was given under the terms of the 1997 peace agreement in which opposition leaders were handed public sector posts in return for demobilising their forces. Since then he has increasingly come into conflict with the local police.

A source in the Tajik police force, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told IWPR that Ibrahimov was called in to the local police station several times and subjected to threats and blackmail. Local officers claimed to have compromising information about his role as an opposition guerrilla in the war years.

Ibrahimov’s brother – who had fought alongside him - was subjected to similar pressure, and was asked to pay 10,000 US dollars for the harassment to end, IWPR’s source said.

The final straw was when police called in Ibrahimov’s wife and reportedly intimidated her. That was not a good move in a part of Tajikistan where tradition and Islam are strong, and the “Sheikh” responded by launching a raid on the authorities.

While this incident looks like an isolated revenge attack, it highlights the tensions that lie under the surface in areas where the UTO has its strongest support.

Analysts in Dushanbe report a disturbing trend where police are harassing former UTO guerrillas who were covered by a general amnesty when they laid down their arms. It is reported that the principal objective is to extort money.

The government for its part says it is taking action against the few remaining “illegal armed formations”, in other words ex-UTO combatants who either failed to disarm or have reformed their units. Only a few dozen kilometres down the Rasht valley from Tajikabad, the authorities are combing the mountains in search of another former guerrilla chieftain, Ahmadbek Safarov, who is reportedly hiding out with 30 of his men.

The Tajikabad clash has also had repercussions on national politics. Rumours circulating in Dushanbe say the upsurge in trouble in the Rasht valley is the work of Mahmudruzi Iskandarov, the leader of the Democratic Party. The rumours appear to be based on government leaks.

The Democratic Party was a minor partner in the UTO which was dominated by the Islamic Rebirth Party. After disarming, both now operate legally and will contest next year’s parliamentary elections.

Iskandarov comes from Tajikabad, and during the conflict he was Ibrahimov’s superior in the guerrilla force which dominated this area. He is said to retain considerable political support in the area.

Iskandarov himself made the transition from guerrilla commander to civilian politician, and for a time headed Tajikistan’s national gas company. His sacking from the post late last year was seen as part of a wider trend in which the authorities were reneging on the spirit of the peace agreement by quietly removing opposition people from their posts.

The opposition politician is currently in Moscow, but his deputy Rahmatullo Valiev told IWPR, “We are concerned that recently there have been various rumours spread about Mahmadruzi Iskandarov.”

Hikmatullo Saifullozoda, a leading figure in the IRP was more forthcoming, describing the rumours as a deliberate smear by the government. “By disseminating this false report, the authorities are trying to discredit Iskandarov ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections, by blaming him for all the negative trends seen in the Rasht group of districts,” he said.

After Iskandarov was removed as head of the gas company, he went off to Tajikabad to consult with his supporters there. In April, Tajik president Imomali Rahmonov made an effort to court him, by meeting him and offering him another job. Although Iskandarov turned the post down, relations between the two men appeared to thaw, but they worsened again in June after Iskandarov publicly criticised a new election law for discriminating against opposition parties.

Iskandarov’s critical stance, says Saifullozoda, is the reason why the authorities are seeking to destroy his reputation by implying that he might one day muster an armed force against them, “It is obvious they want to put pressure on the Democratic Party leader and clear him out of their way.”

Aziza Sharipova is a pseudonym for a journalist in Tajikistan.