Comments on: Akramiya’s Turn to Terrorism

By: Registan.net » Igor Rotar Arrested in Uzbekistan

Registan.net » Igor Rotar Arrested in Uzbekistan — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 23:05:24 +0000

[...] evelopments in China, Eurasia and the Greater Middle East. In case you missed its mention here, EurasiaNet has a story on the arrest. Forum 18, for whom Rotar often writes, has a statement [...]

By: Brian

Brian — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 21:20:06 +0000

Well it seems that the Uzbek government isn’t taking kindly to Igor Rotar either:

http://eurasianet.org/departments/civilsociety/articles/eav081105.shtml

By: jonathan p

jonathan p — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 03:28:15 +0000

Brian, I couldn’t have said it any better. So I won’t even try.

Yes, I agree.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 23:42:52 +0000

I don’t think this article changes what we have already learned too much. What did people already know/suspect before the interview?
That there was an armed prison break and an army post was overrun.
The perpetrators of the armed uprising were friends/family of the alleged Akramiya members in prison.

This interview pretty much confirms that, which is neither surprising nor new.

What the Uzbek government claims, however, is that there were foreign Jihadists amongst the group, that the revolt was staged as an attempt to precipitate an Islamic uprising in the entire country (not over an unjust trial), and that government forces don’t have any innocent blood on their hands.

Parpiyev denies that there were foreign Jihadists, denies that this group is part of any global Islamic fundamentalist org (in fact he denies that he’s an extremist or fundamentalist), and says that the Uzbek government account of what happened in Andijan is incorrect.

What is disturbing, however is what may happen in the future. In many ways, though, it’s not surprising that he should consider violence after what’s happened. And although it’s unfortunate and disturbing that he uses the word “terrorism” I believe that he probably means “insurrection” (i.e. attacking government institutions, not civilians).