Author: Burt Herman, Associated
Press Writer
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: December 15, 2003
The illegal flier boldly posted
on the concrete telephone pole outside Dilyar Jumabayev's home leaves no
doubt about the sentiments of the man who lives inside: "All Muslims of
the world unite against the infidels."
Through his black beard, Jumabayev
shows an easy smile, but his words are vehement. "Muslims now realize who
their enemies are. The United States and Britain want Muslims to fight
against each other," he said.
Jumabayev, 32, is a member of the
secretive Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, or Party of Liberation,
which is spreading across Central Asia. The growth is believed fueled in
part by secular governments' heavy-handed efforts here to crack down on
what has become the largest such extremist movement in the region. It has
as many as 20,000 members.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is not recognized
as a terrorist group by the United States and is so far not connected to
any acts of violence. But Kyrgyz security officials warn that it has become
a fertile recruiting ground for al-Qaida and its allies, such as the Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan, although they often fail to provide hard evidence
proving such ties.
Officials "forecast possible activation
of coordinated efforts not only in propaganda, but also in terrorist attacks"
between Hizb ut- Tahrir and other groups, Kyrgyz Justice Minister Kurmanbek
Osmonov has said.
Afraid of extremism, leaders across
the region have cracked down on independent Muslims who choose to worship
outside state-run mosques. The campaign has been harshest in neighboring
Uzbekistan - where human rights groups say at least 6,500 prisoners are
being held for their religious beliefs, about half of them members of Hizb
ut- Tahrir.
The increased U.S. presence in Central
Asia - since troops arrived in the region to carry out operations in neighboring
Afghanistan (news - web sites) after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks - also
means Washington is seen as supporting the authoritarian policies, despite
the often-quiet diplomacy of U.S. diplomats against offenses to religious
freedom.
Illegal pamphlets circulated by
Hizb ut-Tahrir regularly condemn the U.S. presence here, along with the
war in Iraq (news - web sites).
In a report on Hizb ut-Tahrir, the
Brussels, Belgium-based International Crisis Group think tank urged the
United States and other western countries to avoid closer association with
Central Asian leaders and push openly for human rights reforms.
"All the countries of the region
are prone to use the 'Islamic threat' as a justification for overgrown
security forces, lack of democracy and restrictions on freedom of expression,"
the group wrote in a June report. "Too often Hizb ut-Tahrir is a useful
excuse to avoid challenging the status quo. Too often Western governments,
caught up in a global 'war on terror' take such an excuse at face value."
It's easy to see what Central Asian
leaders are worried about at a lunch of Hizb ut-Tahrir members celebrating
a baby's birth in the Kyrgyz border town of Kara-Suu. Criticism of the
region's leaders here and conspiracy theories, along with anti-Semitic
and homophobic invectives, flow as readily as the green tea.
Presidents in the region are "puppets
of America and Russia," says one man. Another says globalization is preventing
Central Asia from building up its own industry, leaving people still picking
cotton as they did under their Soviet masters. Others ask why the United
States took down Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) while allying
itself with authoritarian presidents here.
Hizb ut-Tahrir was founded in the
1950s in the Middle East and calls for an Islamic caliphate, or state,
to be set up across Central Asia. It claims to eschew violence, setting
it apart from other groups to which governments allege it is linked.
Since the 1991 fall of the Soviet
Union, Hizb ut-Tahrir has found fertile ground for expansion in the Muslim
countries of Central Asia, capitalizing on the discontent of many in their
newly independent countries. Across the region, poverty and unemployment
are common, while social benefits have deteriorated or disappeared.
The number of Hizb ut-Tahrir members
in the two southern Kyrgyz regions where the group is most active rose
from 1,393 to 1,598 since last year, according to police figures obtained
by the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in
Europe.
The group is also believed to be
spreading to the north beyond its traditional base in the conservative
Fergana Valley, and is also active in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
In Kara-Suu, Hizb ut-Tahrir member
Jumabayev said he doesn't disagree with the IMU terror group or even al-Qaida
leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites): "He is certainly my brother.
Saddam Hussein is also my brother. No matter whether he is Arab, Kurd,
Turk or Palestinian, he is also Muslim," he said.
Still, Jumabayev firmly disavowed
violence, which he called a "sin." "It's easy to kill," he said, recalling
his time in the Soviet army when he was sent off to Azerbaijan where soldiers
violently quelled mass protests in the late 1980s amid the Soviet collapse.
A trader and tailor, Jumabayev joined
Hizb ut-Tahrir three years ago because it "explained the meaning of life."
He now said he pays one- tenth of his income for membership and belongs
to a five-person cell.
Jumabayev said they don't have to
look hard for new members: The government condemnations draw people's natural
curiosity. Although Jumabayev said upper leaders denied him permission
to speak to an American reporter because he was the "enemy," Jumabayev
spoke freely and said he wasn't afraid of retribution for his beliefs -
even claiming to be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice.
"My daughter asks me when I will
enter heaven and my son asks when I will become a martyr," he said.
