DUSHANBE, January 21, 2011, Asia-Plus — One of leaders of former United Tajik Opposition (UTO) also known Tajik religious leader Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda questions the findings of investigation by Kyrgyzstan’s National Commission of causes and consequences of the June 2010 ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan that concern involvement of former UTO representatives in those event.
The results of the national probe were published by Kyrgyz media outlets on January 20.
According to Turajonzoda, allegations that the former UTO representatives were involved in the tragic events that took place in southern Kyrgyzstan “are absolutely baseless and do not correspondent to the facts.”
“As one of former leaders of the UTO, I official state that the UTO armed forced were disbanded in late 1998 already and integrated into the government forces,” Turajonzoda said.
According to him, “some political forces, especially in official circles of Central Asia’s nations, try to give Islamic color to all negative events occurring in the region and thereby discredit Islam.”
“Such attempts can be seen in the results of the Kyrgyz national commission investigation and in events that have taken place in eastern Tajikistan, Turajonzoda stressed.
He also wonders at position of some politicians and media outlets in Tajikistan that call some participants of the Rasht events former UTO field commanders.
“During the civil conflict in the country, Mirzokhouja Nizomov was the UTO field commander in Rasht and I, as one of leaders of the UTO, never heard about such UTO field commanders as Mirzokhouja Ahmadov or Alovuddin Davlatov,” said Hoji Turajonzoda, “But today, somebody is to profit from presenting them as leaders of the former UTO. Even if Ahmadov and Davlatov were among fighters of the UTO, they were integrated into the Interior Ministry forces. Who don’t they call them former police officers. They were only three years in the ranks of the UTO, while they served almost ten years in the ranks of the Ministry of Interior.”
Turajonzoda is sure that the latest developments in the Rasht region resulted from non-observance of agreements reached between the government and separate persons on non-persecution of them for infringements and crimes committed during the civil war.
