KHOROG, June 2, 2014, Asia-Plus – A protocol to an agreement on the settlement of the situation in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) was signed in Khorog, the capital of Gorno Badakhshan in the morning of May 31.
“The signing of the protocol took place in the building of the GBAO regional military registration and enlistment office at 8:30 am,” local civil society activist, Alim Sherzamonov, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to him, the protocol was signed by the presidential adviser on national security Sherali Khairulloyev, Deputy Interior Minister Abdullo Navjuvanov, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) Suhrob Panoyev, GBAO Governor Shodikhon Jamshedov, Khorog Mayor Faromuz Imomberdiyev, Commander of the Border Guard Group deployed in GBAO Kholbash Kholbashev and representatives of local civil society.
Alim Sherzamonov says they have reached an agreement on eight of nine points of the agreement. “The only point on which we have failed to reach agreement is Point 4 – to release the May 21 disorder participants from responsibility,” said Sherzamonov. “This issue will be decided in the course of further consultations.”
As far as Point 3 is concerned, Sherzamonov says they have come to an agreement that the issue of dismissal of heads of local law enforcement agencies should be decided by the president, “because this issue is in his competence.”
Meanwhile, GBAO civil society activists and authorities on May 30 signed an agreement on nondisclosure information about the process of investigation into the May 21 clashes until completion of the investigation.
Proceeding from above-mentioned and for the purpose of preventing further escalation of tension and preventing new conflicts, GBAO civil society activists consider it expedient:
1 to expand the composition of the joint commission for investigation into the May 21 incident in Khorog;
2 for the purpose of creating normal conditions for the work of the joint commission, to refrain from making hasty and ill-considered statements;
3 in order to avoid provocations, to temporarily dismiss the head of the Interior Ministry’s office in Gorno Badakhshan, the head of the Khorog police department, the head of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office in Gorno Badakhshan, GBAO and Khorog chief prosecutors until all the circumstances are clarified;
4 since arsons and disorder were committed by a crowd in response to ungrounded use by the law enforcement officers of firearms that caused to civilian casualties, we call on the Tajik authorities to release persons, who participated in that clashes, from responsibility;
5 taking into account spontaneity of a peaceful demonstration, we call on the Khorog authorities to help with an immediate process of the authorization of the demonstration and to help release the demonstration participants from responsibility;
6 to convene extraordinary session of the GBAO and Khorog local councils to discuss the current situation in the region;
7 the results of work of the joint commission should be submitted for consideration to the President and the Government and they must be published in all country’s media and social networks;
8 taking into consideration the importance of releasing a reliable information for the purpose of avoiding rumors and further escalation of the situation in the region, there ought to cover the GBAO events regularly and opportunely;
9 To provide written guarantees for the fulfillment of the demands with specifying dates for the fulfillment of the demands.
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.
