DUSHANBE, December 27, 2008, Asia-Plus — The 41-year-old resident of the Tajik northern city of Isfara Anvarjon Qayumov has been detained in Afghanistan on suspicion of having committed a number of grave crimes in Tajikistan, according to press service of the State Committee for National Security (GKNB).
Under an agreement reached between the security services of Tajikistan and Afghanistan last November Qayumov is being handed over to Tajik law enforcement authorities today.
Qayumov headed the organization of the outlawed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan/Turkestan (IMU/IMT) in the Isfara district, Sughd province and he is charged with attempt to kill police officers, the press service said.
Besides, GKNB handed over to the Afghan security service a list of Tajik nationals who are wanted by GKNB on suspicion of having committed grave crimes, including killings and drug trafficking, according to the press service.
We will recall that on December 24 2008, Tajikistan and Afghanistan signed a protocol on exchange of ratification notes on an agreement for the transfer of prisoners so that prisoners might serve their sentences of imprisonment in their countries of nationality.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 by Juma Namangoni and Tohir Yuldoshev – both ethnic Uzbeks from the Ferghana Valley. Its objective was to overthrow President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and to create an Islamic state under Sharia. The MU launched a series of audacious raids into Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in 1999 and 2000.
However, in 2001 the IMU was largely destroyed while fighting alongside the Taliban against US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. According to media, Namangoni was killed, and the IMU”s remaining fighters were dispersed. In June 2001, the IMU changed its name to the Islamic Party of Turkestan (IMT), and the IMU/IMT is reportedly remains as operational force, expanding its original goal of establishing an Islamic state in Uzbekistan to the creation of an Islamic state in all of Central Asia.
