Paul
Goble
Staunton, July 19 – Even though Isa
Khamkhoyev decided not to run for re-election as Ingush mufti to allow for the
development of improved relations with the republic’s new head, he will
continue to work in the muftiate and his successor Abdurakhman Martazanov, the
former kady, is also on the side of the people, Ingush activists say.
Khamkhoyev who remains an
influential figure among the Ingush population will continue to work in the
muftiate because that is what the alims want, Magomed Khastyrov, one of his
assistants and the deputy head of the Spiritual Center of Muslims of
Ingushetia, says (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/338029/).
The former mufti remains “a member of
the Council of Alims, the executive organ of the Spiritual Center and he will
work there. At the same time, he has said that he will support the new mufti
and his activities,” Khastyrov continued.
Although Khamkhoyev and the new mufti
are members of the same teip, Magomed Mutsolgov, head of the Mashr Ingush Human
Rights Organization, says, it would be a mistake to view Martazanov simply as
Khamkhoyev’s man. “He is a completely independent figure and during the protests
he was with the people.”
Mutsolgov said he was pleased that
Khamkhoyev remained in office longer than former republic head Yunus-Bek
Yevkurov as that represented a victory for the Muslim leader whom Yevkurov had
tried to remove and for the Ingush people who follow Khamkhoyev but not
Yevkurov.
Khamkhoyev behaved in “a very worthy
manner” during the protests, Mutsolgov says, and “he oof course will remain a spiritual
leader since he has been involved in religious affairs for a long time.” One
should also remember that Ingush Islam is far from united: “not all have ever
recognized the primacy of the muftiate.”
Khamkhoyev also has political and
administrative experience to draw on, the rights activist says. “He has a
circle of acquaintances who respect him” and that will give him real influence
regardless of his title.
Timur Akiyev, the head of the
Memorial office in Ingushetia, observes that the election of the new mufti took
place without the interference of the political authorities old or new. The new republic head is focused exclusively
on economic problems and hasn’t gotten involved with social or religious
organizations.
Like Mutsolgov, Akiyev emphasizes
that “the Muslim community in Ingushetia is diverse and therefore there is no
single leader of opinion in the local umma. For some Muslims, Khamkhoyev was
and remains a leader, but for others, including both Salafis and
traditionalists who backed Yevkurov, he doesn’t.
Aleksey Malashenko, a Moscow
specialist on the Caucasus, says that Khamkhoyev behaved with dignity in
departing from his post in order to wipe the slate clean in relations between
the Muslim establishment and the new republic head. The former mufti “did not want to be a source
of conflict.”
But having ceased to be mufti,
Malashenko continues, Khamkhoyev nonetheless remains “an influential figure. It
is entirely likely that he will express his views as a private person who
enjoys spiritual authority and will thereby remain one of the leaders of the
Muslim community” in the republic.
Meanwhile and regardless of whether new
republic head Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov is behind it, the siloviki have arrested another
opposition leader, the third such action since the departure of Yevkurov (doshdu.com/2019/07/19/v-ingushetii-ocherednogo-uchastnika-protestnogo-mitinga-gotovjatsja-posadit-v-sizo/
and zamanho.com/?p=10763).
And in another sign that the political
authorities are showing no sign of backing away from their current hard line,
the interior ministry’s Center for Countering Extremism has called in for
questioning Ingush activists who had applied for a permit to hold another
protest demonstration (doshdu.com/2019/07/19/v-ingushetii-organizatorov-mitinga-za-osvobozhdenie-aktivistov-vyzvali-v-cpje-mvd/).
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