Why does the geography of protests expand in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, where several protests took place after the local resident’s death at the end of last week?
The protests are spreading across the easternmost region of Tajikistan, GBAO. Earlier, Khorog, the administrative centre of the region was considered the main hot spot since most of the so-called ‘informal leaders’ of the region live here. In recent years, the neighbouring districts are joining the protests.
According to various sources, several thousand people participated in the four-day protest in the central square of Khorog. It ended on the evening of November 28, after the protesters and the authorities reached the agreement. According to media reports, the authorities agreed to refrain from any kind of persecution of the protesters, to conduct a quick, impartial, and effective investigation into the deaths of Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, Gulnazar Murodbekov, and Tutisho Amirshoev, and to restore Internet access in GBAO.
On December 1, the local Badakhshon TV Channel cited the regional authorities and law enforcement agencies, “The participants of the illegal protest on November 25-28 will not be held liable unless they committed other offences”. The local authorities do not report on fulfilling other obligations. As of December 3, Internet access in GBAO is still restricted for the residents.
Mysterious Murder
The region’s stability was again undermined after a local resident Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, 29, was killed in a security forces’ operation in Tavdem village of Roshtkala district.
According to the statement by the Prosecutor’s Office, Ziyobekov was wanted for taking a hostage and inciting ethnic, racial, regional, or religious enmity. According to the security officials, “On February 1, 2020, Ziyobekov and his accomplices from an organised criminal group kidnapped an assistant prosecutor A. Abirzoda, and beat and tortured him for eight hours”.
The local residents claim that Ziyobekov stood up for the young woman: the district Prosecutor’s Office representatives promised her to help with the land issue in exchange for sexual services.
A video shared on social media shows the assistant prosecutor saying he texted a young woman whose number he received from a local police officer and apologising to the residents.
The local residents state the conflict was settled back in 2020 with the assistance of the former Head of GBAO Yodgor Faizov. However, after the appointment of the new Head of the region – General of the State Committee for National Security Alisher Mirzonabot, the case was opened again.
Different Accounts of Events
According to the official narrative, during the operation to arrest Ziyobekov, he put up armed resistance. The relatives of the deceased deny this. Commenting to the Tajik media, they claim Ziyobekov was killed on his way from Roshtkala district to Khorog, where his family found his body in the morgue with seven bullet wounds in the heart and head.
The presentation of the sequence of events features the statements of the witnesses, Ziyobekov’s relatives, and sources from law enforcement agencies that contradict each other.
The law enforcement agencies state that Ziyobekov had a Makarov pistol and when he tried to fire it, he was killed by return fire. The local Badakhshon TV Channel broadcast the footage of the confiscation of weapons in the presence of attesting witnesses. However, in interviews, the attesting witnesses say they signed the protocol under pressure and did not see the weapon at Ziyobekov’s hands.
The Beginning of the Protest
Gulbiddin Ziyobekov’s death caused mass unrest in Khorog and Roshtkala district. The protests lasted four days and at times turned into riots. According to various sources, two people were killed and more than ten injured during the clashes. State Badakhshon TV reported that five law enforcement officers were injured. The state TV did not report about the civilian casualties.
In addition to Khorog residents, the communities of Badakhshani and Tajik expats joined the protest abroad. Since the beginning of the protest, the rallies in support of the protesters were held in the cities of Russia, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Canada, at the UN headquarters in New York. The protesters expressed dissatisfaction with the policy of Dushanbe regarding GBAO and called for a peaceful solution to the emerging problems. The public discontent can also be observed in the Tajik segment of social media.
On December 1, Pevistamo Abdulmuminova, Gulbiddin’s mother, said that the GBAO authorities refused to consider her statement, and therefore, she will strive to meet with the President of Tajikistan.
Bitter Experience
A reason for concern for people from GBAO was the experience of the last ten years when Dushanbe constantly tried to solve the problems emerging in the region by force.
According to official information, in 2012, the security forces operation to arrest the murderers of the General of the State Committee for National Security Abdullo Nazarov in Khorog resulted in the deaths of 23 officers and 21 civilians. In addition to the murderers, the charges were brought against former warlords from the United Tajik Opposition, who are considered ‘informal leaders’ in the region. The local population refused to hand them over, which led to an armed conflict.
In 2014, a police shooting incident took place in Khorog centre; two citizens were killed. The riots broke out in the city, during which protesters set the buildings of the police department, the regional Prosecutor’s Office, and the court on fire.
In September 2018, during his trip to GBAO, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon harshly criticised the regional authorities and local security officials, who, according to him, cannot deal with the criminals.
“If you cannot deal with three or four criminals in the city, if it is difficult for you to establish order in the road traffic, I can send the armed forces,” the President said at a meeting with regional activists.
The President instructed the security forces to restore order in Khorog within a month and, if necessary, use the country’s armed forces under his responsibility.
Then, an Interdepartmental Headquarters for Ensuring Law and Order was founded in the region; informal leaders signed the commitment not to violate the law and not to interfere in the activities of regional authorities; the former executive director of the Aga Khan Foundation in Tajikistan and respected person in the region Yodgor Faizov was appointed the Head of the region.
Nevertheless, the protests continued outside Khorog. For example, in 2020, Rushan residents protested in support of a local resident who opposed the brutal treatment by the security forces and was beaten by law enforcement officers.
The Protest’s Logic
Most likely, the Tajik authorities linked the mobilisation of the population and incitement of protests with informal leaders; the geography of protests was usually limited by the administrative centre, Khorog. However, as recent events show, the protest potential in the region goes beyond the mentioned criteria. For example, the protests took place in Ishkashim and Rushan districts.
Journalist Anora Sarkorova, a GBAO native, connects the reasons for the population’s discontent with a complex of factors accumulating over the past several years.
– Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region makes up about half of the territory of Tajikistan and has the richest mineral and water resources. At the same time, the Pamirs is the poorest region, even by the standards of poor Tajikistan. The prices here are two to three times higher than in other regions of the country, and the incomes are much lower. The high unemployment rate has led to mass migration. [Agricultural] land is scarce in the Pamirs, and therefore, agriculture cannot feed the residents of the region. Thus, the solution of social and economic issues is the primary task of the central authorities. However, Dushanbe decides to appoint not an experienced business executive, not a crisis manager, not a lawyer, but a security officer to the position of Head of the region. Can the General solve these problems? Maybe he can, but only by force and punitive measures. Instead of addressing poverty and employment issues, local authorities together with the law enforcement agencies punish any dissent and disagreement, including attempts to protect the honour of their relatives and loved ones, Sarkorova told CABAR.asia.
According to the journalist, prejudice towards the region is felt under such circumstances, given how the state media are trying to portray the protesters as criminals equating peaceful protests with military actions and keeping silent about the crimes committed by the security forces and security officers.
GBAO has some of the highest rates of unemployment and poverty and the lowest rate of economic development. The poverty rate is about 40% here, while in other regions it is 20-30%, according to various sources. The region has poor infrastructure, underdeveloped industry, and a small area of agricultural land. According to official data, the share of industrial enterprises in GBAO is 2.1%, which produce 0.7% of all industrial products in the country.
The majority of the working-age population leaves for labour migration due to the difficult economic situation.
Inflexible Approach
A new round of conflict in the region began less than a month after the resignation of Yodgor Faizov and the appointment of Alisher Mirzonabot in his place. Videos from the Khorog protest posted on social media show Mirzonabot approaching protesters shouting the slogan “iste’fo” (resignation). The same demands are shared by the natives of GBAO active in social media. Nevertheless, the appointed official continues to occupy the chair of the Head of the region.
The experts note that in the absence of real powers, no official will be able to achieve significant results.
“The problem is that de facto, none of the leaders of the region, as well as the local parliament, held real powers as prescribed in the Constitution. [Even] the most experienced leader in the current conditions only becomes a talking head of the central government, which makes decisions on GBAO not taking into account the interests and conditions of the Pamirs,” notes Anora Sarkorova.
In an interview given to CABAR.asia while at his post, ex-chairman Yodgor Faizov said that sometimes, in order to solve the simplest issues, one has to turn to the ministers and leaders of different industries. As main of authorities he received with the post, he named “direct communication with the President,” which he resorted to when resolving important issues.
It is unknown whether the current authorities have similar privileges. It is also unknown to what extent the centre is satisfied with its approach in relation to GBAO.
Outside Perspective
Analysing the events in GBAO, an independent political scientist Parviz Mullojanov points to the social and economic problems as the root cause of the conflict and offers his own vision of solving the problems of the region.
In particular, the expert proposes to develop a program for the fastest development of the region, to eliminate the imbalance in its development, to create several operating free economic zones and the Regional Development Fund. To relieve the existing tension, according to him, it is necessary to terminate the permanent checkpoints and revise the staff rotation so that the seconded employees make up at least 20-30% of the total staff.
CABAR.asia’s anonymous source, an expert from Dushanbe, notes that under the current conditions, the authorities systematically undermine the population’s trust, and stability in the region will depend on how effective the consensus is.
“If everything is resolved following the example of last year’s conflicts when the authorities did not conduct an independent and transparent investigation, and some cases were classified, no breakthrough results will be achieved. Instead of solving the problems, a whole region may oppose the authorities,” believes the source.
According to him, one cannot tell that the authorities have learned lessons from past events.
GBAO occupies the eastern part of Tajikistan, being the country’s largest region: its area is more than 64 thousand square kilometres. As of the beginning of 2021, about 250 thousand people live in GBAO.