11 May 1998, RFE/RL NEWSLINE   Nurlan Balgimbayev told Chinese officials on 8 May that his country "does not have and will not have" groups supporting Muslim separatists in China's Xinjiang Province (the Uyghur Autonomous Region).

(1) THE UYGHUR CORRESPONDENT OUSTED FROM THE PRESS-CONFERENCE  11 May 1998, Eastern Turkistan Information Center  [ETIC, 5/11/98] The Minister of National Security of Kyrgyzstan gave a press-conference to journalists in Bishkek today at 2:30 p.m.  A correspondent of the Uyghur newspaper "Vijdan Avazi" Rabiyem Yakub was not allowed in.  On her question "On what grounds?", the security service officer responded:  "Without any grounds." Apparently, the press-conference was devoted to the recent crack down of the Kyrgyz National Security Ministry on the Uyghurs in Kyrgyzstan.  The Uyghurs were accused in spreading the ideas of militant Islamic Fundamentalism in Kyrgyzstan and in being the members of the underground organization advocating independence of Uyghuristan.   Two of the arrested Uyghurs, who are citizens of China, are still detained in the prison of the Ministry of National Security waiting for deportation to China.  [A. Aitbayev] 

(2) KYRGYZ MUFTIAT COMPLAINS ABOUT MEDIA COVERAGE OF MUSLIMS 11 May 1998, RFE/RL NEWSLINE    Kyrgyzstan's Muftiat or Spiritual Directorate of Muslims has denounced the coverage of Islam by two of the country's newspapers, RFE/RL correspondents and Interfax reported. The statement by the Muftiat said articles in "Utro Bishkeka" on 25 April and in "Vecherny Bishkek" on 1 May attached "labels of Wahhabites and fanatics to Muslims." Also, the statement said the articles created a "negative opinion and hatred toward practicing Muslims" and that authorities were responsible for permitting the media to "openly provoke" the population. The deputy editor-in-chief of "Vecherny Bishkek" responded that the Muftiat is trying to generate anti- Russian feelings by saying Russians do not respect Muslims.  BP  [See below for the English translation of the article from "Vecherny Bishkek" A.A.] 

(3) MUFTIYAT CONDEMNS PAPERS 8 MAY 1998, KYRGYZ NEWS (Naryn Aiyp)  Moldo Abdylda, deputy Mufti of Kyrgyzstan, held a news conference in Bishkek today. Several other members of the Muftiyat (the Muslim Board) took part in it. According to Moldo Abdylda, the Utro Bishkeka and Vecherniy Bishkek dailies, reporting on wahhabism and islamic fundamentalism, represent all muslims as terrorists. The Muftiyat reserves a right to take appropriate measures and might sue the papers.   The Vecherniy Bishkek daily, reporting on "Uighur terrorism" and wahhabism, carried a picture in its edition on 1 May, where a Kalashnikov and a grenade were put on the opened Koran. 

(5) JIHAD: VICTIMS AND HOSTAGES   By O. Dyadyuchenko and  A. Otorbayeva.   The collage by V. Lomkova.   "Vecherni Bishkek", 1 May 1998  For the first time, an actively functioning channel for sending our citizens to illegal camps training Jihad commandos has been tracked down in Kyrgyzstan.  A man, arrested and taken into the SIZO  of the Ministry of National Security (an acronym of "Sledsrvenni IZOlyator", Russian, a prison for detention during an ongoing investigation), is giving testimonies.   THE ALARMING SIGNAL  In the beginning of April, two utterly disturbed Uyghur women came to the Ministry of National Security asking for help. Their 17 years old sons had been missing for about a month. The women addressed to the Ministry of National Security because of a note found by one of the mothers saying: "I devote myself to Jihad...".  Just in two days after, the security service officers found a tourist firm that was used to send the boys to Pakistan.  Nothing else was known about whereabouts of the boys.  The firm employees gave a detailed description of a stranger engaged in preparing the travel papers and in sending the youngsters.  An investigation is still to be made on why a reputable in the capital firm "Ak-Joltoy" did not even ask the stranger certified by notary consents of the parents for sending underage children abroad, which are required in such cases.  The composed picture of a "sender" happened to be very familiar to the Chekists.   ("Chekist" is an officer of the Cheka, the predecessor of the KGB during the bolshevik revolution. A. A. ).  He was described as an Uyghur man of a Chinese origin of age about 36-38 years old. According to the data in the Ministry of National Security, he emerged in Bishkek three years ago, and, later, "lit" himself up to the security service by his active propaganda of the ideas of Wahhabism.  (A note from "Vecherni Bishkek": Muhammed ibd-Abd al-Wahhab, a historical figure of XVIII century.  A founder and a thinker of a new religious movement in Islam named after him.  Wahhabism negates civil secular societies, and it does not accept existing in many countries the principle of the separating religions and a state.   The movement distinguishes itself by its reactionary and aggressive features.)   The Ministry of National Security began to receive the information  on activization of a propaganda of Wahhabism on the territory of Kyrgyzstan in 1991-1993.   It was determined that a person calling himself Kasarli J. had in his possession passports of three countries: China, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan. According to Kasarli, he immigrated from China to Turkey protesting the policies of the Chinese authorities in the Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region.  Since then, Kasarli considers the liberation and establishment of Uyghuristan (Eastern Turkistan) to be his priority objectives.  It is still unknown how he could settle down in our republic.  Kasarli even managed to get married on a citizen of Kyrgyzstan, and he owned a house in Novopokrovka, a "Mercedes" and a cellular phone.  Hundreds of Muslims have been subjected to his fanatical Wahhabist sermons in mosques of Bishkek and the Chu valley.  But, it was the case on missing boys which lead to detention of this religious fanatic.    Moreover, it was strongly justified for the Chekists to dispatch a special "squad-of-seizure" from the anti-terrorist center "Kalkan" of the Ministry of National Security. The squad was sent to Novopokrovka where, according to the information from a secret agent, the most zealous members of the Wahhabist organization usually gather.  SEIZURE  The operation was postponed until the end of the Kurban Eid, the big Muslim holiday.  This was done as a sign of respect to believers and also as a tribute to diplomacy.  But right on the next day after the holiday, the meeting of the Wahhabists taking place under a disguise of a secular party was suddenly interrupted by a thrown door and the command:  "Everyone, do not move!".   Fortunately, the seizure operation went without gunshots, although, fiercely resisting Kasarli snatched a Makarov's gun out of his pocket trying to shoot.  The rest of gathered, about 20 people, acted also aggressively provoking the Chekists to use force.  The search of Kasarli's house yielded ground shaking results once again supporting the Chekist's data on existence in the republic of an acting illegal religious-terrorist organization called "For free East Turkistan!" with more than 200 members.  Dozens of video and audio tapes with Wahhabist sermons and meetings, more than 200 forms with detailed information on members of the organization, numerous receipts on Kasarli's name on a total amount of several hundred thousand dollars was found and seized in a safe in his house.  Moreover, the Chekists discovered scrupulous reports on how the money had been spent: receipts on purchases of firearms, production of leaflets, transportation and travel expenses, food,  and, the most important, a financial report on living and departure expenses for 20 people, who were sent to Pakistan for study on different dates.  73 thousand dollars were confiscated from Kasarli in a strip search. Having studied his cellular phone bills, the officers found out that the bills were sometimes on amount up to 2 thousand bucks.  Five more members of the organization were detained the same evening. Kasarli is charged in violating 3 articles of the Criminal Code, and they are use of fake documents, an illegal possession of a gun, and an instigation of the ethnic and religious hatred...  THEY WANT A WAR  At the interrogation, Kasarli acknowledged that he sent the boys to Pakistan.  And, in general, he turned out to be an uncommonly talkative prisoner, especially, when he was asked about the "serene ideals" of Wahhabism and a fight for freedom.  However, it was impossible to pull out of him anything on the destiny and whereabouts of the boys.  The problem suddenly resolved itself.  It was reported that the Pakistani authorities had been deporting the young revolutionaries since their visas had expired.  The Kyrgyzstani border guards, informed earlier on the case, reported to the Ministry of National Security that Akram and Diyar are arriving by plane to the Manas airport  from Karachi.  Shortly after, the happy mothers and the Chekists met the boys at a gangway to the airplane.  The officers were generous and did not detain the prodigal sons, and the boys were left at care of their parents.   In contrast to the Teacher, his students keep silence on interrogations. The only things they talk about are the slogans of the war against infidels, their sacred duty, and their great teacher.  The mothers are in shock; the kids say the same things at home, and timely perform all their religious rituals.  Now one of the mothers confessed that, at first, it seemed to her that the suggestion of the aksakals,  the olders of the village, to send her son to a medredse, an Islamic school, was innocent and even redeeming.  Her son stopped drinking alcohol, smoking, and disappearing on the streets.  But, joining to a "spiritual enlightenment" turned into a tragedy.  The psychiatrists who examined the boys assert that in the behavior of Akram and Diyar clearly seen the distinguishing signs of "zombi"-men, which is so peculiar to the followers of Wahhabism.  Apparently, real professionals worked on the boys. No doubt, Kasarli is among such people, as well.  Their fanatical beliefs to the great idea could rearly be "decoded". All the methods of unmasking and revealing, including the special methods of psychiatry, do not help in these cases.   The families of the recently converted, especially the mothers, who dared to ask for a help from the Ministry of National Security, found themselves under a hysterical pressure.  Some of the olders from the so-called "council of the aksakals" of the Uyghur  diaspora accused the women in treason.  This was the "lightest" insult among many others that fell upon their heads.  At present, attempts are being made to declare two women persona non grata, and to oust them from the community...  (A note from "Vecherni Bishkek": it has been learned from the reliable sources that the Ministry of National Security has the information, which was also confirmed from the outside, that the so-called Davatists, Islamic propagandists from Pakistan, are present in Kyrgyzstan. They undergo a special training in the study centers located in the suburbs of Lahor and Rayvintom in Pakistan.)   Beginning from this year, the number of students in these centers will increase to 8 million (!) people.  Last year, 800 thousand Davatists graduated from the centers.   Eight of them at present roaming with their leaflets over all the regions of Kyrgyzstan.  There is an information that, at present, 200 of our citizens are illegally studying at these centers.  The course of study lasts two years.   Their main goals are agitation for establishment of the Great Muslim Empire, Halifat, and training commandos.  WHEN THE BELIEFS HARM  The situation with the development of Islam in the republic becomes more and more alarming.  Only last year, the Ministry of National Security was informed on a prolonged stay on the territory of this country of 39 Islamic preachers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan.   Only in one house in Jalal-Abad, the Chekists seized more than 400 books with pro-Wahhabist propaganda.  In the last years, the number of mosques in Kyrgyzstan is counted by thousands. Only about a hundred of them have officially been registered in the Ministry of Justice. The others, according to the data from the Ministry of National Security, operate illegally.  Just a year ago, there was no a single Mashrab,   an underground organization of the Uyghur youth ("Mashrab" is a form of entertainment of the Uyghur youth when people organize parties at a regular schedule. A.A.). Today, there are about 20 of them only in Bishkek. How many of them are out there?   It seems that only the people in the Ministry of National Security are concerned with the stormy development of the radically-fanatical, and programmed on terrorism Wahhabism. A special confusion is caused by the imperturbability of our state fathers in the "white house".  Moreover, there are people who believe that a reactionary Islamic movement is a necessary complement to our freedom and democracy.   Just a month ago, one quite high ranking state official in the "white house" was proving exactly this to an author of the present article.  It can be stated without any ambiguity that, nowadays in the republic, a struggle is under way between different religious groups which is still going on in the ideological frameworks. However, increasing activities of the Islamic fundamentalists have been reported.   The Wahhabist leaders have proclaimed:  "The time has come for a massive Islamisation of the population!".  Their words are supported by the deeds.   Every year thousands of copies of religious literature with explicitly provoking content are being sent into the republic, and the Ministry of National Security has gathered piles of them.  The reality also shows that an average religious fanatic is much younger today.  The only thing is clear, that is, the State Commission of Religious Affairs is not capable to withstand the religious fundamentalist invasion. The measures of extremely radical character are required now,  today.  Otherwise, it will be late...  [Forwarded to ETIC by Rabiyem Yakub] [Translated from Russian by Abdulrakhim Aitbayev] 

(6) KAZAKH PRIME MINISTER IN CHINA  11 May 1998, RFE/RL NEWSLINE   Nurlan Balgimbayev told Chinese officials on 8 May that his country "does not have and will not have" groups supporting Muslim separatists in China's Xinjiang Province (the Uyghur Autonomous Region), ITAR-TASS and Xinhua news agency reported. Kazakhstan borders Xinjiang Province and has the largest population of Uyghurs in the CIS. Balgimbayev said after his meeting with Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji the previous day that both countries reaffirmed their commitment to the proposed $9 billion oil pipeline that will transport oil from western Kazakhstan to China. According to Balgimbayev, a feasibility study for the project will be completed this December. He also said China will extend a $100 million loan to small businesses in Kazakhstan and donate another $100,000 for Kazakhstan's census next year. Xinhua reported that trade between Kazakhstan and China totaled $101 million in the first quarter of 1998, up 19.1 percent on the same period last year. BP 

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The World Uyghur Network News electronic newsletter is produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) in cooperation with the Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association (USA), and is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghur people related issues.

Eastern Turkistan (Sherqiy Turkistan in Uyghur) is a name used by the indigenous people of the region for their motherland located in what is at present the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic China.

The World Uyghur Network News brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community.

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