Political Islam and Social Movement Theory: The Case of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgement The author would like to thank Professor Clark McCauley for his insights regarding the issues addressed in this article and the University of Pennsylvania's Solomon Asch Center for Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict for its financial support for this research. Notes See, for example, ICG, 2003 ICG 2003 International Crisis Group, Radical Islam in Central Asia: Responding to Hizb ut-Tahrir (Osh, ICG Asia) [Google Scholar] and Rashid, 2002 Rashid A 2002 Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia (London, Penguin) [Google Scholar]. Only 1.3 per cent of the adult population is illiterate (UNSK, 2001 UNSK 2001 The United Nations System in the Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz Republic: Common Country Assessment (Bishkek, United Nations) [Google Scholar], p.76). According to the Kyrgyz intelligence services, a meeting was held in Kabul in early September 2000 between the Taliban, the IMU and Hizb ut-Tahrir to discuss the plans of the latter to cooperate with a wide range of movements in calling the umma to struggle against the kufr (non-believers) (Knyazev, 2000 Knyazev A 2000 Pod znamenem “zelenogo internatsionala” Nezavisimaya gazeta 11 November [Google Scholar]). See, for example, Zubaida, 1993 Zubaida S 1993 Islam, the People and the State: Political Ideas and Movements in the Middle East (London, I. B. Tauris) [Google Scholar], Tessler, 1997 Tessler M 1997 The origins of popular support for islamist movements: a political economy analysis in J. P. Entelis (ed.), Islam, Democracy, and the State in North Africa, (Bloomington, Indiana University Press) [Google Scholar] and Wyatt, 2000 Wyatt C 2000 Islamic militancies and disunity in the Middle East in K. Dark (ed.), Religion and International Relations, (London, Macmillan) [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. Officially the Soviet authorities listed the casualties at 200 killed and some 300 injured, but local sources put the death toll at more than 1000 (Rashid, 2002 Rashid A 2002 Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia (London, Penguin) [Google Scholar], p. 68). The major regions of the country are the north, which includes the capital Bishkek and Chui, Issyk-Kul and Talas provinces, and the south, consisting of Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken provinces. The Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan (CPK) was dominated for nearly 25 years by leaders from the north. The northern domination almost came to an end with the promotion of Absamet Masaliyev, a southerner, but the balance of power soon shifted again in favour of the north; Askar Akayev was elected president in October 1990, while Masaliyev was removed from the position of CPK first secretary in April 1991 (Akbarzaden, 2001 Akbarzaden, S. 2001. Political Islam in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. Central Asian Survey, 20, 4: pp. 451 – 65 [Google Scholar], p. 455). In 2002 317 citizens of Kyrgyzstan were studying in religious educational institutions in Pakistan (Ibraimov, 2002 Ibraimov B 2002 Nastupayet li islamsky ekstremizm? Vecherni Osh 15 June [Google Scholar]).