DUSHANBE, June 7, 2014, Asia-Plus – The presidential adviser on national security Sherali Khairulloyev says the main orchestrators of recent events in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region are in Dushanbe and bear no relation to Gorno Badakhshan.
Sherali Khairulloyev, who is the head of the government commission for investigation into deadly clashes that took place in Khorog on May 21, met with senior representatives of the Khroog mayor‘s office and heads of Khorog mahallas (urban divisions) in Khorog on May 31.
The meeting was shown on the local TV channel.
Speaking at the meeting, the presidential adviser on national security, in particular, said that the main orchestrators of the events that took place in Khorog on May 21 are in Dushanbe and bear no relation to Gorno Badakhshan. “I spoke to them [orchestrators – Asia-Plus] by phone,” said Khairulloyev. “Many of them are even not citizens of Tajikistan. They do not have families or relatives in Khorog. They just study their own political interests and they are no concern of Badakhshan.”
According to him, persons, guilty of the Khorog clashes, whether they are law enforcement officers or anybody else, will be punished.
“We have included persons suggested by local civil society activists in the commission for investigation into the May 21 clashes,” Khairulloyev said.
He noted that damage caused by arson of three buildings had been estimated at more than 10 million somoni.
The presidential adviser also pointed to the necessity of giving unbiased assessment of the recent Khorog events.
He further noted that there are two conflict-prone areas in Tajikistan: the Isfara district in Sughd province, the villages of Vorukh, Khoja Alo and Chorkuh on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border to be exact; and the city of Khorog in Gorno Badakhshan. “Not the whole Isfara district and not the whole Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region but Vorukh and Khorog,” the presidential adviser stressed.
He also noted that accumulation of the Taliban militants along the Afghan-Tajik has been observed since 2012 and “if there are disturbances in Tajikistan, members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Ansarullah, Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist and extremist organizations will appear here at once.”
We will recall that two suspected drug traffickers were killed and one was wounded by police officers on May 21. Besides, two persons were killed and at least seven people were wounded on the same day after police opened fire on a crowd that tried to storm a police station. The fatalities occurred during a police offensive against suspected criminals and ensuing clashes between security forces and local residents upset with the police action.
The wounded suspected drug trafficker died in the hospital Friday night (May 23), sparking the march on the building of the SCNS’s office for GBAO in Khorog. At least one person was killed and two wounded. Witnesses reported that one of the protesters threw a grenade at the building of the SCNS’s office and some protesters opened fire on the facility.
On May 24-25, several dozens of protesters in the GBAO spent two nights in tents in Khorog, demanding an investigation into deadly clashes on May 21 and the resignations of the local governor, police chiefs, and prosecutor. Protesters left the central square in Khorog after civil society activists and authorities agreed to investigate the May 21 incident.
Khorog saw days of fighting in 2012 between government troops and rebels after President Emomali Rahmon vowed to punish local warlords for the killing of a security service general.
