For the past few weeks in Dushanbe teams of officials drawn from various security agencies have been going from house to house in an effort to uncover what they deem “undesirables,” EurasiaNet.org said on June 13.
According to official documents seen by EurasiaNet.org, the objects of suspicion can include suspected religious extremists or would-be potential terrorists. But the target list also includes electricity thieves and anybody using the wrong type of light bulb.
In apparent disregard for due process, the teams, which can number up to 15 officers from the police, prosecutor’s office and State Committee for National Security, are demanded to search people’s homes without proper authorization from the courts.
The initiative is part of something known as “Operation Order,” and it is focused, for now, on parts of Dushanbe.
A resident of Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district told EurasiaNet.org that three law enforcement officers visited his home on June 3 demanding to be allowed in to carry out checks. The man refused, arguing that the officers did not have the requisite paperwork.
“The following day, a commission of 15 people came with an official document signed off by the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Interior Ministry and the State Committee for National Security. They came into the house and checked anything it was possible to check,” the resident told EurasiaNet.org on condition of anonymity.
Power cables are inspected to ensure no unmetered electricity is being siphoned off the grid. Since the end of last year, city authorities have stepped up inspections to ensure proper storage of propane cylinders, which are used in many households for cooking and heating.
Anybody found in violation of any of these statutes can face anything from fines to administrative sanctions.
There is a 10-page “Operation Order” document that authorities now wield to legitimize their house searches. The big-ticket targets outlined in that document are suspected members or sympathizers of what the government deems terrorist and extremist groups.
Along with more obvious suspects like the Islamic State group and Jamaat Ansarullah, organizations like the banned Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) and the opposition Group-24, or even associates of Abduhalim Nazarzoda, a former deputy defense minister that authorities claim mounted an attempted coup in September 2015, are in the crosshairs.
An Interior Ministry representative told EurasiaNet.org on condition of anonymity – because he is not authorized to speak to the media – that the operation is being extended to the whole country and that districts around Dushanbe have already gone through the exercise.
Political commentator Farruh Avezov told EurasiaNet.org that although campaigns to enforce lawful behavior are to be welcomed, authorities ought to have pursued less invasive and punitive methods.
Lawmakers in the lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of parliament in October approved legislation allowing agents with the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) to enter people’s homes without permission or obtaining a court order.
SCNS chief Saymumin Yatimov described the legislation as a measure of last resort. “Special services employees will only get the right to gain unauthorized entry into the homes of citizens in exceptional cases. For example, when there is the threat of a terrorist act and there is a need to protect the life and health of the population or to seek the release of hostages,” Yatimov told lawmakers.
However, the upper house, or Majlisi Milli, rejected the legislation in mid-February. “It is necessary to clearly set a boundary between the provision of security and the guarantee of citizens’ rights,” said Majlisi Milli speaker Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev.
On June 7, one member of the lower house, Jourakhon Majidzoda, suggested giving criminal investigators the power to identify people suspected of visiting “undesirable” websites. In support of his argument, Majidzoda claimed that people across Tajikistan are collectively being bombarded with up to 90,000 SMS messages every day from supposed extremists and terrorists. Majidzoda said the messages include appeals to join forces with radical groups based abroad.
