Dubai/Astana (10 June – 60). The Pamiris are an ethnic minority group in Tajikistan, culturally distinct from the majority Tajik population. They have faced persecution and discrimination in their mountain homeland bordering Afghanistan that some experts say amounts to ethnic cleansing and even genocide. One of the lead persecutors is Ministry of Internal Affairs “Maj. Gen.” Shorukh Syedzada, a former football team manager with no law enforcement experience and a confidante of the president’s son and heir designate.

The Pamiris continue to be marginalized and oppressed by the authorities. As a result, many Pamiris have been forced to flee their homeland in search of safety and refuge, facing the risk of imprisonment or even death if they remain.  Tajikistan’s notorious jails are filled with thousands of Pamiri men and youth, and even women, arrested on trumped up charges by Syedzada who heads the Criminal Investigation Department at the ministry, and responsible for joint operations with the Russian, Turkish, Polish and German intelligence to forcefully detain and return to Tajikistan individuals charged with “terrorism.”

Despite their plight, the Pamiri community remains little-known to the outside world, making it challenging for them to garner support or recognition for their struggles.  The MIA actively works for foreign security services, including those of China, Russia, and Europe, to depict Pamiri civil society leaders as “gangsters” and “terrorists,” justifying their arrests, and killings.

Despite the undeniable existence of the Pamiri community as a distinct ethnic minority in Tajikistan, the denial of their identity by Tajikistan’s justice minister is deeply concerning.

This denial not only perpetuates the marginalization and discrimination faced by the Pamiris but also hinders efforts to address their plight and ensure their rights are protected.

The violent suppression of Pamiri peaceful protests in towns like Rushan and Khorog by Tajik authorities in May 2022, that resulted in the torture and killings of dozens, and imprisonment of hundreds,underscores the ongoing challenges faced by the Pamiri people, driving many to flee their homeland in search of safety and refuge. The journey to find asylum is fraught with hardship and danger, with many experiencing mistreatment and facing significant barriers to secure protection in other countries.

Human rights organizations are calling on the international community to recognize and address the persecution faced by the Pamiris, advocating for their rights and providing support to those who have been forced to flee their homes to countries like Germany, Poland and Turkey. Pamiri organizations in Europe say that it is essential to ensure that they are afforded the protections guaranteed under international law, including the right to seek asylum without fear of reprisal or mistreatment.

The reported cases of disappearances of Tajik citizens from Russia and Turkey raise serious concerns about the safety and rights of individuals within the Pamiri community and beyond. Recently, Pamiris and non-Pamiri Tajiks have been forcefully deported from Germany, Poland, Russia, and Turkey back to Tajikistan, where, according to sources, they face immediate torture by both the Ministry of Internal Affairs as well as the GKNB intelligence service.  Survivors of the tortures report that top MIA and GKNB officers, including Syedzada and GKNB chairman Saymumin Yatimov, participate in the interrogations, and directly threaten prisoners.

Pamiri exile leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity, urge Western governments to provide support and protection to those at risk of persecution, including offering avenues for asylum and resettlement for those who seek refuge from such oppressive conditions in Tajikistan. Additionally, they call for diplomatic pressure to be exerted on Tajikistan to respect the rights and freedoms of all its citizens, regardless of their ethnicity or political affiliations.

‘We all want to go home’

Pamiri witnesses who escaped to the West paint a harrowing picture of the challenges faced they faced as they fled persecution in Tajikistan.

One Pamiri’s journey to freedom was marked by violence and mistreatment at the hands of border guards in multiple countries, where he was threatened with forceful return to his homeland, thus underscoring the desperation and danger faced by those seeking refuge. Despite reaching Germany, he continues to live in fear of extradition back to Tajikistan, where he risks torture and dreadful prison conditions.

Another Pamiri refugee witness has described how his family was torn apart by the consequences of their involvement in the peaceful 2022 Khorog protests. The imprisonment of his brother for “unlawful social media activity” and the subsequent death of their father underlines the devastating toll of persecution on individuals and families within the Pamiri community. His mother’s plight, unable to visit her imprisoned son and grieving the loss of her husband, highlights the profound impact of state-sponsored persecution on the lives of innocent civilians.

While there has been some international criticism of Tajikistan’s actions, Pamiri civil society leaders say that much more needs to be done to hold the authorities accountable and to ensure the protection of Pamiri rights. They believe that it is essential that Tajikistan’s international trade partners and diplomatic allies prioritize the issue of Pamiri persecution in their engagements with the country, pushing for recognition of the Pamiri community’s civil rights – including the freedom of religion and the use of their native languages — and advocating for an end to repression and discrimination.

In the interim, the Pamiri leaders in exile call for neighbouring countries like Russia to provide support and refuge to those fleeing Tajikistan in search of safety. They note that EU member states, as well as countries such as the US, have a responsibility to recognize the plight of the Pamiri minority and offer asylum to those unable to live in their homeland without fear of persecution.

Ultimately, the Pamiri leaders believe that the fundamental long-term goal must be to persuade the Tajikistan authorities to recognize the existence of the Pamiris, cease their repression, and grant them equal rights and protections under the law. Only through concerted international pressure and solidarity can meaningful change be achieved for the Pamiri community and other marginalized groups in Tajikistan.

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For ten years now, the authorities of Tajikistan have been engaged in forced assimilation of the ethnic Pamiri people, giving away the heartlands to China for debts,” Orzu M. shared with RFI – Radio France Internationale is a French news and current affairs public radio station that broadcasts worldwide.

RFI met with Orzu in Paris, sharing the fact that more and more Pamiris are leaving their native homes in Gorno-Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous (GBAO) Region of Tajikistan; they are driven into exile by the persecution of the authorities, who are displacing indigenous peoples.

The Tajik government continues its repression against the Pamir minority group as part of Dushanbe’s efforts to quell the opposition to the ruling government in Tajikistan. The repressive actions included forced extradition, arbitrary arrest and harsh verdict to alleged Pamiri activists.

RFI: How did it come about that you, a defender of the rights of the Pamiri peoples, ended up in Paris?

Orzu M: I am a Pamiri, and for at least the past ten years, the authorities of Tajikistan have been engaged in the forced assimilation of our people. The Pamiri peoples are a national minority. We have our own language, different from Tajik, with several dialects (Pamiri languages belong to the Iranian linguistic group – RFI). Our religion is also different; Pamiris are Ismailis, which is a branch of Shiite Islam, whereas Tajiks, the titular nation, are Sunni. We practice a more secular form of Islam; women and men can be in the same prayer house. We don’t have mosques; we have Jamaats, where men and women gather, and everyone prays together. Pamiri women often do not wear a headscarf and dress in a more European style.

We have our own culture and traditions. Tajikistan is a multi-ethnic country with Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Russians, and many other people living here, but we have our own autonomous region, Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO). And, of course, we are a mountainous people, which also creates distinct characteristics in our culture and traditions. There are approximately 200,000 Pamiris in total, but a significant portion of them is already in exile.

RFI: Why is there such strong emigration?

Orzu M: Emigration is indeed significant; villages are becoming empty, entire families are leaving, closing their homes, and fleeing to wherever they can, to Europe, to America. This situation has been ongoing for the past 10 years.

Ninety-three percent of our territory is covered by mountains. We are primarily engaged in livestock farming rather than agriculture, but most of the population is affected by unemployment, which is a significant problem. We have neither factories nor plants. The Aga Khan Foundation (Aga Khan Development Network, a network of private non-denominational development agencies founded by the spiritual leader of the Ismailis – RFI) is involved in the development of Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast. Aga Khan IV built a university, a hospital, and is involved in cultural and educational programs. In Soviet times, every second person in our region had a higher education. The thing is, we are in a remote high-mountain region, and we have very harsh winter conditions, as well as overall challenging living conditions. The only way to make progress was to study, get an education, and then develop the region.

It turned out that in the last 10 years, we have been leaving Pamir; we are being displaced. The Tajikistan authorities want us to integrate and lose our identity, including our language.

Furthermore, our territories are essentially being handed over to China as a result of Tajikistan’s national debt. For example, the Murghab region, where Pamiri Kyrgyz people live, is rich in natural resources, such as gold, silver, and precious gemstones. It’s a mountainous area, and there are even precious stones. China understands that this is a very rich territory.

RFI: You say that the problems started 10 years ago. What happened at that time?

Orzu M: In 2012, the head of the State Committee for National Security (KNB) in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) was assassinated. He was simply eliminated, and the local people were accused. It was an intra-government dispute related to the criminal business, smuggling, and drug trafficking.

Pamir is a strategic location where the path to China goes, with the border with Afghanistan and the only place that did not submit to the authorities and resisted. The people were free, acted in their own way, and cherished this freedom. In other words, it was autonomy in the true sense. The government felt that they could enrich themselves in the region, and the president’s inner circle chose the events of 2012 as a pretext. That’s when we had a “special operation,” they removed informal leaders who were defending the people.

And this periodically continues to this day, in 2014, in 2018, in 2022. There were several attempts to pacify the people. It didn’t work. There were protests, and even attempts to communicate with the president and the establishment of commissions. In other words, it was such an oasis of democracy in Tajikistan, the only region that truly knew its rights and demanded their respect. And when it so happened that they did manage to suppress us, many people, in order not to submit, leave.      

RFI: How to explain the fact that Tajiks, who themselves are victims of persecution, oppress another minority?

Orzu M: I wouldn’t say that Tajiks oppress the people. Tajiks suffer even more than we do, and they have always suffered. We are the only region that openly and boldly talks about this. Tajiks tend to be more submissive; they are more adaptable. The temperament of the mountain peoples does not allow them to submit. But Tajiks have also always suffered from this regime, and there were events in Rasht, in the Sughd region, in Vahdat.

The authorities have broken the people and subdued them. All the terrible facts – rape, murder – were attributed to the lawlessness of ISIS terrorists. For the Tajik authorities, anyone who opposes them is labeled a terrorist.

RFI: Is Russia’s influence a factor in this?

Orzu M: We, the Pamiris, are a small community, and we all know each other. When the special operation in GBAO began, we realized that the only possibility was to shout, speak, and write. We have always won against the authorities with the information war. But now, the Tajik government has very strong support from Russia.

So-called “special operations,” similar to what Russia conducts in Ukraine, are carried out in our Pamir. It’s all part of the same Soviet playbook that Putin is spreading among authoritarian regimes. Emomali Rahmon, in order to pass power to his son, is creating all the conditions for the destruction of a free society, so that there are no people who can shout, speak, and obstruct his actions.

RFI: How has the war that Russia is conducting in Ukraine affected the situation?

Orzu M: It has made the situation even worse because the regime realized that if Ukraine wins, it will set an example for other nations, and everyone would strive for freedom. As a result, it has tightened its grip. For example, in GBAO, there are hardly any NGOs left; everything is closed.

A significant portion of civil society representatives are in prison. We have around 1,000 political prisoners who had an influence on the youth and held some authority. They were either imprisoned, disappeared without a trace, or emigrated.

RFI: Am I correct in understanding that fleeing to Russia is not possible?

Orzu M: There is no refuge for us in Russia. Many, even those with Russian citizenship, have been extradited to Tajikistan, where they are subjected to torture in prisons.

Russian citizenship is zero; it’s a fiction. There have been cases where people with Russian citizenship had it simply revoked, even though they grew up and lived their whole lives in Russia. The war in Ukraine has frightened our president, and he is afraid that this whole kingdom could disappear. Everything now depends on the outcome of the war, on Ukraine’s victory.

RFI: How does the proximity to Afghanistan affect the situation?

Orzu M: Afghanistan is a trump card for the Tajik authorities in order to promote the issue of terrorism, extremism, the influence of Islamists, and the movement of the Taliban to our borders in Europe. Although, in my opinion, such a threat does not currently exist. Badakhshan was divided by the Russian Empire along the Kokcha River, and now its southern part is in Afghanistan, while the northern part is in Tajikistan. Families were divided, and I still have relatives in Afghanistan. It’s just an opportunity to blackmail and use strong words in Europe, claiming that we are protecting the European Union from Taliban incursions and Islamists.

RFI: But is Islamism a problem in Tajikistan itself?

Orzu M: It’s a problem in Central Asia as a whole. In countries with dictatorial regimes, the youth turn to conservative Islam, Salafism, and mosques engage in propagandistic activities. This was never the case before; there used to be a secular state. Now, the youth don’t see a future and are searching for answers or simply escaping from this reality.

Poverty is rampant, and many become labor migrants, leaving their children with grandparents. Women, daughters-in-law, are oppressed within their husband’s families. This is the standard situation throughout Central Asia. The authorities have abandoned the people to their fate, leading to poverty, unemployment, and making the population vulnerable to the ideas propagated by mosques. Islamic madrasas are established not only in Tajikistan but also in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan has always been secular, but now the sentiments are changing.

RFI: Does Iran influence the situation?

Orzu M: The relationship with Iran is variable. Sometimes they are friendly and exchange visits, and sometimes the love disappears. Russia usually dictates who to be friends with and who not to. But right now, the closest friendship is with China. All road construction and projects are Chinese.

The small republic is deeply indebted to China, and China is already dictating its terms. The Chinese government doesn’t like that Pamir, its closest neighbors, values freedom and that people there are well-educated. They see this as a threat. Every time after meetings between representatives of the Tajik government and China, the pressure on the GBAO intensifies. The way we understand it is that China is an accomplice in this process. This is a union of dictatorships.

RFI: Do you see any way out?

Orzu M: Right now, the only way out is the victory of Ukraine. Then, this entire dictatorial pyramid will collapse.

*Orzu M. prefers not to give its full name, fearing persecution from the authorities.

Source: RFI

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Berlin, Brussels (18/5 – 40)

In the vast and remote mountain lands of Central Asia, the Ismaili Pamiris have long faced systemic discrimination and persecution at the hands of the Tajik government. Despite their proud history, rich cultural traditions, and highly educated populace, they have been targeted for cultural extermination in a chilling campaign of ethnic cleansing. Tajikistan President Imomali Rahmon has demonized them as “inbred” and “criminals” and launched a brutal program to replace their community with ethnic Tajiks. In May and June 2022, the government launched a final assault on the Pamiris to end their autonomy and bring them under the total control of the state. Heavily armed security forces rampaged into the town of Vamar, where protestors calling for respect for human rights had peacefully blocked the Pamiri Highway. There and in other towns of the Gorno-Badakhshan region (GBAO), protestors and passers-by were shot dead, maimed, and taken to prisons to be tortured and degraded.

Yodgor was a protestor who fled from the security forces along with five friends who hid in a house.  There they were discovered by Tajik security forces, blasted with explosives, dragged out of the house, and four were executed with close shots to the head, and one taken prisoner. 

Yodgor was from the village of Derzud in the Rushan region of GBAO. He was a former commander of a self-defense milita protecting Pamiris during the 1991-1997 civil war. According to his relatives, he led a quiet and peaceful life after the civil war. He turned his house into a place for congregational prayers for the followers of Ismailim. He has a great reputation in Rushan due to his work with the youths.

The security forces had identified him as the leader of an organized criminal group in Derzud village and published his name in the list of 10 wanted persons in connection with the events of May 16-18 in Rushon. According to reports, he was killed by the security forces.

Source

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Berlin, Brussels (18/5 – 40)

In the vast and remote mountain lands of Central Asia, the Ismaili Pamiris have long faced systemic discrimination and persecution at the hands of the Tajik government. Despite their proud history, rich cultural traditions, and highly educated populace, they have been targeted for cultural extermination in a chilling campaign of ethnic cleansing. Tajikistan President Imomali Rahmon has demonized them as “inbred” and “criminals” and launched a brutal program to replace their community with ethnic Tajiks. In May and June 2022, the government launched a final assault on the Pamiris to end their autonomy and bring them under the total control of the state. Heavily armed security forces rampaged into the town of Vamar, where protestors calling for respect for human rights had peacefully blocked the Pamiri Highway. There and in other towns of the Gorno-Badakhshan region (GBAO), protestors and passers-by were shot dead, maimed, and taken to prisons to be tortured and degraded. Ekhson Muzrobov was one of the innocent victims that was killed.

Ekhson was a wrestler and a sportsman. His father was a migrant worker in Russia. His relatives said that he was very good and well-known as one of the best wrestlers in the district in national wrestling, judo and sambo. His lifelong dream was to continue studying at the Institute of Physical Education. His ambition was to teach the sport to children and teenagers and guide them to a healthy lifestyle.

On May 18, security forces went around town to round up the protesters. According to witnesses, Ekhson was captured together with his friend, Ardasher Munosibov during the crackdown and both were brought back to the base and tortured. His corpse was naked when found, with traces of brutal torture.

Ekhson passed away at the age of 25 and was buried in the town cemetery, along with some of the other 21 Derzud victims of the Tajik security forces. His family was forbidden by a law promulgated by President Rahmon forbidding grave markers for “terrorists” and so his grave remains nameless.

Source

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Berlin, Brussels (17/5 – 40)

In the vast mountain lands of Central Asia, a small ethnic group located at the crossroads of Afghanistan, China, and Russia is struggling for its very survival in the face of a national program that, some experts argued, is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.  The Pamiris of Tajikistan were granted autonomy by the USSR and reside in Gorno-Badakhshan region known as the GBAO. For years, the Pamiris’ ancient traditions, peaceful religious faith, and highly educated populace, accused by Tajikistan President Imomali Rahmon of being “inbred” and run by “criminals”, have faced a state campaign that replaces the Pamiri society with ethnic Tajiks. This re-engineering of the GBAO climaxed in May and June 2022, when security forces stormed up the Pamiri Highway that leads to China and killed, wounded, arrested, and tortured hundreds of Pamiris who had been protesting the government’s abuse of human rights in GBAO. Nusrat Zavkibekov was one of the victims.

Nusrat was from the village of Derzud in the Rushan district of GBAO. He was highly educated and regarded former employee of “Tojikstandard” in Rushan district. In earlier years, he had put aside his government work to take care of his elderly mother. Instead, he engaged in farming to make a living.

He was arrested in his brother’s house in Vamar village during the crackdown on May 18. According to his brother, Nusrat was shot in the chest by the security forces and taken away. They later found his naked body with a broken arm in the fields in Derzud.

The very eligible bachelor, Nusrat was born in 1984 in Derzud. His mother wanted him to be married in the summer of 2022 and was preparing for his wedding at the time of his passing.

Source

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Berlin, Brussels (12/5 – 40)

In the vast mountain lands of Central Asia, a small ethnic group located at the crossroads of Afghanistan, China, and Russia is struggling for its very survival in the face of a national program that, some experts argued, is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.  The Pamiris of Tajikistan were granted autonomy by the USSR and reside in Gorno-Badakhshan region known as the GBAO. For years, the Pamiris’ ancient traditions, peaceful religious faith, and highly educated populace, accused by Tajikistan President Imomali Rahmon of being “inbred” and run by “criminals”, have faced a state campaign that replaces the Pamiri society with ethnic Tajiks. This re-engineering of the GBAO climaxed in May and June 2022, when security forces stormed up the Pamiri Highway that leads to China and killed, wounded, arrested, and tortured hundreds of Pamiris who had been protesting the government’s abuse of human rights in GBAO. Nekkadam Muborakshoev was one of the victims.

Nekkadam Muborakshoev was a geologist by training and had returned from Russia four months earlier to build a house in the village of Rushan. He was a father of three. 

Akbarsho Muborakshoev, Nekkadam’s brother, said that he went to the bank in the district center of Vamar on the morning of May 18 to withdraw money which was sent by his daughter from Russia. He was later killed by the regime and they brought his body back to his family. He was badly burnt and his body was scorched and unrecognizable. Akbarsho said that the soldiers treated his brother like an animal. He believed that his brother was a peaceful civilian and did not even carry a pocketknife.

Nekkadam died at the age of 58. He was building a house next to his brother’s house in the village. His three children were living in Russia and they had sent money to him to build the house. After his death, the house was left empty. 

Source

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“We will destroy anyone who raises his head. If you try to complain, you will suffer the fate of those Pamiris arrested and executed. We order you to halt any kind of dissent or criticism of the government.”

Governor Alisher Mirzanabatov

On a warm spring day last May, an ominous news conference was held in the picturesque city of Khorog, the regional capital of Tajikistan’s autonomous mountain region of Badakhshan, and where protestors had been gathering by the hundreds to decry government injustices.  Speakers included senior officers of both the country’s internal security services and feared secret police, but the last word was by the region’s recently appointed governor, Alisher Mirzanabatov (Mirzonobot).  The grim faced, stocky governor and former deputy head of the Tajikistan secret police, warned that “criminal elements” were destabilizing the region and that protests needed to cease, or else action would be taken. 

A few days later, Mirzanabatov coordinated the launch of a campaign of ethnic cleansing – killing, arrests, torture, and silencing, that targeted the non-violent demonstrators and civil society leaders of the Pamiri ethnic minority. Most Pamiris are followers of Ismaili Shi’ite Islam, speak languages separate from Tajik and boast of an ancient cultural history that sets them apart from the majority Sunni Muslims of Tajikistan. A hardy, highly educated and peaceful people, the Pamiris inhabit the “rooftop of the world” – the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) that comprises 40 percent of the country.  

It is precisely their autonomy and insistence on being culturally separate but equal Tajik citizens, that set the Pamiris on a collision course with the aspirations of President-for-life Emomali Rahmon for complete control over a country that has essentially become his extended family’s fiefdom.  

Knowledgeable sources inside the security services describe how an escalating campaign against Pamiri autonomy gathered steam in November 2022 with the appointment of Mirzanabatov as governor, replacing a conciliatory Pamiri.  Secret police, civilian police, and government apparatchiks imposed increasingly repressive measures on the population, neighborhood “watch committees” were organized like those in communist Cuba, and security service officers humiliated Pamiris daily with threats, sexually abusive language toward women, and provocative insults of the Pamiris’ Ismaili faith and their spiritual leader the Aga Khan.  

The May 2022 new conference marked the long-planned launch of what a well-placed source access to the presidential office described as the “final solution” to the problem of Pamiri autonomy, and the perceived humiliating outside economic support the Pamiris had received by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), that employed thousands in health, education, rural development, and cultural institutions.  This, despite the decades of educational initiatives by the AKDN to inculcate the values of citizenship and national unity among Pamiri youth.

Two days after governor Mirzanabatov marched off the stage, Tajik military trucks and armored personnel carriers carrying units of both the dreaded Alpha Unites of the GKNB secret police, and elite units from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) descended on Pamiri protestors in the town of Vamar who were blocking their access to Khorog, 60 km to the south.  

The 18th May has become a day of infamy for Pamiris, as the security forces carried out a blood bath, shooting protestors not only from the ground, but also from circling helicopters with snipers who hunted down protestors fleeing to the mountains.  Sources estimate that around 40 persons were killed, and many more injured.  Others were arrested and tortured, some to in jail death, and their bodies dumped near the local hospital.  Videos of distraught and wailing relatives outside the hospital were smuggled out of the country.  

Proportional to the population of Pamiris, almost 300 Russians would have died, or almost 3,000 Chinese in a single incident.  What followed in the weeks and months after the Vamar massacre were the arrests of hundreds of Pamiris, many subjected to extreme torture, and then condemned to lengthy prison terms, including popular athletes, journalists, and religious leaders.  The community was further traumatized as the security forces systematically hunted down and killed all remaining informal community leaders who had once led self-defense militias during the bloody Tajik civil war of 1991-1997. They played a critical role in preserving community harmony, promoting cultural traditions, and allocating social aid to needy families.  Dozens of Pamiris, including leaders of the diaspora community in Russia, were extradited to Tajikistan to disappear into prison.  

Human rights researchers note that there is no evidence of any arrested Pamiri advocating violence against the state, or the overthrow of the regime.  These same researchers estimate that around 2,000 Pamiris are now imprisoned, including Pamiris arrested before 2022.  The economic impact of these numbers is incalculable, as families have had to sell their homes to move near their loved ones’ prisons far from GBAO in order to support them with food and medicine that is not provided by the prison authorities.  

The AKDN’s development projects have come under bureaucratic strangulation threatening the livelihoods of an estimated 3,000 breadwinners.  Small businessmen and merchants have been forced to shutter their companies, and religious ceremonies in homes forbidden.  Today, GBAO resembles North Korea, with its omnipresent surveillance cameras, forced cult of the President-for-Life Rahmon, mandatory marching parades, and somber town hall meetings led by governor Mirzanabatov and his police chief, who lecture sullen citizens about the merits of obeying the law.  Hundreds of families have abandoned their homes and fled to freedom in distant countries.

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Tajikistan’s civil war came to an end in 1997 with a unique truce that saw the pro-Communist government integrating members of the opposition into various government institutions. Mamadbokir “Boqir” Mamadbokirov, a Pamiri leader from the Gorno-Badakshan region, was one of these opposition members. His story is a tragic one of indomitable courage in exposing what international observers have described as a state criminal enterprise created by president-for-life Imomali Rahmon, and a peaceful sacrifice if his life that he made on May 2022 that will likely be recalled in Pamiri lore for ages to come. Through previously unreported eyewitness accounts and public reporting, the story of one of Tajikistan’s modern heroes is finally emerging.

Boqir was a highly respected informal leader of the Pamiri people. He was born and raised in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region (GBAO), a vast mountainous area with only 2% of Tajikistan’s population, but that makes up 45% of the country. The Pamiri people, mostly Ismaili Shi’ites, had been granted autonomous political status by the Soviet Union due to their unique culture, languages, and minority religion. Following the peace treaty, the Pamiris, under the guidance of the Ismaili’s global religious leader, the Aga Khan, the Pamiris committed to building national unity, while the Aga Khan Development Network poured hundreds of millions of dollars in development aid into GBAO, launching schools, hospitals and clinics, and programs to protect the environment and create jobs, not only for Ismailis, but also in other regions of the country.

On May 22, 2022, Pamiri leader Boqir chose to give up his life so the regime would stop attacking his people. The Pamiris regard Boqir as their hero. Quoting his last words, strongly and with grim determination:

“They cannot break us.”  

Boqir was appointed by the government as a colonel in the Border Troops of the GKNB, Tajikistan’s state security service that was modeled on the Soviet KGB. He was responsible for securing the country’s borders with neighboring countries, including Afghanistan. However, events in 2006 plunged both Boqir and the Pamiris’ lives into a downward spiral of repression. The transfer of GBAO lands to China by the Rahmon regime, for the construction of a military outpost, caused popular outrage among Pamiris, and protests erupted against the central government. Col. Boqir publicly supported the protestors, a move considered disloyal to Rahmon, and a challenge to the regime’s efforts to control the GBAO.

That same year Col. Boqir and the men of his 21-07 Border Troop unit committed an unpardonable “crime” in the eyes of the regime:  They seized a major shipment of heroin that regime-backed smugglers were moving from Afghanistan through Tajikistan to Russia.  He also defended the honor a Pamiri woman whom his deputy and current governor of GBAO, Alisher Mirzanabatov, attempted to rape.  These actions led to his firing by the GKNB, which then attempted to arrest Boqir at his home.  The security services claimed that he was wanted on trumped up criminal charges, however locals stood their ground and forced the authorities to retreat and subsequently drop the fabricated accusations.  This was a short-lived victory, as the regime began to escalate it repressive actions against the GBAO’s Ismaili Pamiris, and launched a concerted campaign, boosted by Pamiri turncoats loyal to the Rahmon regime, to vilify Boqir by painting him as a crime boss and dangerous drug lord.

In 2012, Rahmon ordered his security services and special forces to take control of the restive region.  The bloody events of that summer led to the killings of 28 peaceful protestors.  Pamiris then took up arms and forced the security forces to retreat in a humiliating defeat that the regime never forgot. 

In November 2021, protests intensified following the brutal murder of Gulbiddin Ziyobekov, a local sportsman and youth leader. He was ambushed by GKNB officers, dragged across a footbridge, and tortured before being executed by gunshot. Photos of his mutilated body spread across Pamiri social media, shocking and enraging Pamiris in GBAO and the diaspora, especially in Russia.

After Ziyobekov’s murder, regime repression escalated, including cutting off local internet access, setting up police checkpoints throughout Khorog, positioning snipers, and intensively surveilling the wireline phone network. Security forces arbitrarily arrested Pamiris, brutally interrogating and torturing them to obtain false confessions and denunciations of fellow Pamiris, particularly local leaders like Boqir. In response, Pamiris organized civilian defense groups and neighborhood patrols.

The regime’s security chiefs publicly called for Boqir to surrender and escalated their charges against him and other local leaders, falsely accusing them of heading criminal enterprises. Boqir’s house and neighborhood were under 24/7 regime surveillance, including by drones. According to sources, Boqir only dared leave his house twice between November 2021 and May 2022. During the first trip, he accompanied his son to school but narrowly escaped injury or death when security forces opened fire on his car.

The situation in Tajikistan continued to escalate in May 2022. Pamiri civil activists planned a peaceful rally and protest in Khorog’s central square on May 14. While on their way to rally the protestors, they were surrounded by security forces who opened fire with rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse them. Three days later, civilians responded with further protests, peacefully resisting the security forces by blocking the Pamiri highway in Rushan district to prevent them from moving troops up the road to attack Khorog.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and GKNB forces under the orders of President Rahmon unleashed heavy gunfire on the protestors on May 18, killing 46 and arresting around 120 people. Survivors of the arrest described how detainees were brutally beaten, with some dying from torture. News reports citing local sources indicated that security forces deliberately executed some of the arrested Pamiris and sent their body parts to Boqir’s home. Several people close to Boqir said he felt personally responsible for the killings and was worried they would continue.

The numbers of dead in proportion to the Pamiris estimated population of 500,000 reveal the seismic impact of the killings on Pamiri society.  The equivalent proportion of Chinese killed in one day would be 132,000, or 30,000 Americans, or 13,000 Russians.  Survivors of the arrest described how detainees were brutally beaten, with some dying from torture.

On the night of May 21, according to a trusted source who wishes to remain anonymous in order to protect his identity and the safety of his family, Boqir received a telephone call from a senior security officer who issued an ultimatum: “Surrender now, or we will use all possible armed force to arrest you regardless of how many civilians attempt to defend you.”  Later that night, Boqir’s home came under fire by snipers positioned in the mountain slopes above his neighborhood.  

The next day, Sunday, May 22, followers of Boqir were gathered around his house in order to attempt to protect him from any moves by the security forces to move against him.  To their surprise they saw him silently exit his door with a stoic look on his face.  He did not respond to greetings called out to him but did stop briefly to politely inquire how some of his comrades were holding up.  As he turned to walk towards the street, he spoke his last words, strongly and with grim determination: “They can’t break us.”

According to a witness who approached Boqir, the colonel’s phone rang and when he answered an unidentified individual was heard taunting and threatening Boqir, saying, “If you are a man, then come to the Boyni neighborhood and let’s meet.”  Other witnesses report that numerous surveillance drones were in the skies above Khorog that day.  Boqir began to calmly walk towards Boyni, seeming not to notice the growing crowd of persons following him concerned for his security and wanting to see where he was going and.  Suddenly, a pickup truck roared around the corner, screeching to a stop in front of Boqir, and four GKNB Alpha unit commandos jumped onto the street with their guns raised.  

The alarmed crowd began scattering in fright, leaving Boqir and a young follower alone on the street.  An Alpha commando took aim at Boqir striking him in the stomach.  Boqir’s young follower rushed to protect him and was shot in the arm.  The two men crumpled to the ground.  A GKNB commando then executed Boqir with a shot to the head.  The commandos quickly fled the scene.

Bystanders then rushed to Boqir’s side, but it was too late.  The car bringing his body back to his home came under sniper fire, but once inside his family and friends began all the obligatory Islamic rituals to prepare him for burial.  Despite government orders prohibiting any public funeral, hundreds of Pamiris gathered to accompany Col. Boqir’s body to his burial site, where funeral prayers were led by the respected Pamiri religious leader, khalifa Muzaffar Davlatmirov.  

Three weeks later, on 12 June, two other informal leaders of the Pamiri community Zoir Rajabov and Khursand Mazarov, were executed by Tajik security forces during a raid on one of their homes.  Accusing them of being leaders of a “criminal gang,” the authorities published a photo of their bodies splayed on the floor of a living room.  Khalifa Davlatmirov at great personal risk also led the funeral services for these leaders.  On 26 July, the cleric was arrested by the authorities and in a show trial a week later was charged with the crime of “publicly calling for extremist activity using the mass media and internet.”  He was sentenced to five years and taken to the infamous YaS 3/6 prison in Yavan.

The post Boqir, the Pamiri Leader Who Defied Tajikistan’s Regime appeared first on Tashkent Citizen.

Berlin, Brussels (11/5 – 40)

The Ismaili Pamiris of Tajikistan are a tiny minority group in Central Asia, whose ancient homeland lies in the remote and forbidding mountains that straddle the borders of Afghanistan, China, and Russia. Despite their small numbers, they have long been targeted for persecution by the authoritarian government of Tajikistan. In recent years, this has escalated into a full-blown campaign of ethnic cleansing, with President Imomali Rahmon seeking to eradicate this community and replace them with ethnic Tajiks. The Pamiris reside in the Gorno-Badakhshan region (GBAO), which became a warzone in May 2022. Government security forces had swept through Vanj, indiscriminately killing, torturing, and jailing Pamiris whom they accused of committing “terrorist acts”. Mukhiddin Kurbonasenov was one of the many peaceful Pamiri activists who fell victim to this brutal onslaught.

Mukhiddin was from the village of Vamar in Rushan, Tajikistan. A single man, he engaged in seasonal and temporary work, mostly in the field of construction.

According to reports, Mukhiddin and his friend, Asliddin Khursandov, sought refuge in the mountains to evade the gunfire and brutality of Rahmon regime’s security officers in town. While hiding there, helicopter snipers found them and he was shot to death.

Mukhiddin was reported to have died at the age of 35.

Source

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Berlin (2/5 – 100)

For the Pamiri ethnic minority and residents of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) in Tajikistan, the month of May is a reminder of many dark memories. 

On 14th May 2022, there was a riot in Khorog, the capital of GBAO, home to the Pamiris, a tribe with unsimilar ethnicity, language, religion and culture from the rest of the Tajiks.

About 1,000 people gathered to peacefully demand the resignation of the regional leader, Alisher Mirzonabatov, affectionately called “The Butcher of the Pamir” and the fair investigation into the death of Gulbidin Ziyobekov, a Pamiri resident, who was killed by security forces in November 2021. In response, the authorities delivered an ultimatum to these locals that if the demonstrators did not disperse by 1600hrs on 16th May 2022, they would be dispersed and removed by force.

As 16th May loomed, the authorities cut off the internet and mobile phone network in the entire region and they were reported to remain cut off until the end of June 2022, making it extremely difficult to get any information and news from this region. Posts and encounters circulated widely on social media based on eyewitness reports indicated that security forces arbitrarily searched houses, seized mobile phones, and detained innocent residents. There are also numerous explicit accounts of torture and deliberate extra-judicial executions of locals detained during this operation conducted by the regime.

“In May 2022, the tyranny started when quiet protests demanding the resignation of the regional leader, Alisher Mirzonabatov – “The Butcher of the Pamir” and an investigation for the death of Gulbidin Ziyobekov, turned into tragic end for the Pamiri locals.”

Attacks by President Emomali Rahmon’s security forces on civilians continued on 17th May 2022, with the reported constant use of tear gas grenades. On 18th May 2022, the Ministry of the Interior announced that it would carry out an “anti-terrorist operations” in Rushan District, where mobile, landline, and internet communication was subsequently cut, and people were denied the right to leave or enter the district. The violence spread when residents attempted to block the road to Khorog with their cars to prevent a military convoy from passing.

The crackdown in Rushan led to casualties among protesters. Local witnesses reported that snipers and military helicopters were around the town to shoot at civilians. The violent dispersal in Khorog left several dead and wounded. At least 40 civilians were reported to have been killed.

On 22 May 2022, the regime executed the assassination of Mamadbokir Mamadbokirov, an influential local leader and a hero fighting against President Rahmon’s authoritarian regime. He was shot dead by the government security forces.

Mamadboqir Mamadboqirov, known locally as Colonel Boqir, was originally a military commander for the Tajik Pamiris during and after the civil war and was assigned as the security force of the country’s border with Afghanistan, China, and Kyrgyzstan.

Colonel Boqir was one of the last independent leaders in the autonomous region and the beloved leader of his neighborhood. Under his leadership in the community, Khorugh had one of the most vibrant and independent civil societies in Central Asia.

It was reported that Colonel Boqir went for a walk on 22 May 2022, the day that he was killed. While he was around town, Colonel Boqir was shot by security officers in a pick-up truck. They had received information about his movements and managed to track him down. They shot him first in the arm and then in the head. Another young man was killed and another injured when they ran in to protect him.

Many in the region who supported Colonel Boqir view him as a Pamiri hero. Thousands of people showed up at his funeral even though roadblocks were in place. Hundreds of Pamiri youths now use Colonel Boqir’s photo as their Facebook avatar.

The murder of Colonel Boqir signaled the end of an era of independent and autonomous leadership in GBAO. Many Pamiris believe that their freedom of opinion, association, and religion will be disturbed and limited to what the regime wants to administer in GBAO. They fear that they will be living under a securitized surveillance state. Many are trying to leave, for fear of being arrested, tortured or killed.

Currently, a lot of Pamiris are living abroad. The ongoing Pamiri diaspora is key to the region’s future. The new leaders within the diaspora are organized, educated and dedicated, and have been mobilized and further politicized by the May crackdown. Many of the Pamiri diasporas are deeply committed to stopping human rights abuse by the current tyrant Tajikistan government.

“We won’t give up our dignity or our autonomy.”

Those are the words of Colonel Boqir in a video he made in February 2022, three months before he was assassinated. The late Colonel Boqir is a Pamiri martyr against tyranny and injustice.

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