Future Ingush Protests about Borders with North Ossetia and Chechnya May Not be Peaceful, ‘Zamanho’ Portal Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, September 16 – At present, Ingush activists remaining free are focusing on securing the release of their leaders now held in detention centers outside the republic; but in the coming weeks, they will again be focusing on the borders of their republic and new protests about them may not be peaceful, the Zamanho portal warns. 

            New Ingush protests about republic borders are likely to focus first of all on the border with North Ossetia which since 1992 has occupied Ingush lands with the backing of the Kremlin. That is a violation of the Russian law on the rehabilitation of repressed peoples, and the Ingush people will rise up unless the Kremlin changes course (zamanho.com/?p=12683).

            “The Kremlin must understand that in the situation regarding the Prigorodny district, it won’t be 20,000 people coming out into the streets; it will be the entire people. This is the cradle of our people which our ancestors defended and passed on to us. And we, if it will be the will of the Most High will recover it.”

            And protests about and conflicts over the illegally drawn border with Chechnya are also likely to become more massive and less peaceful. If the Chechen occupation continues, the portal says, “a significant part of the Chechen teips are our blood brothers.” And we Ingush know which parts belong to which families and which do not.

            When the protests resume, “the entire people will come out. They will not need leaders or organizers which the powers now are holding in violation of the law. Each will be a leader. We all await this moment, the moment when the lands of our fathers will return to our jurisdiction, when we will not need to ask permission to visit the graves of our ancestors and when our ‘closed’ villages will be open.”

            At the same time, Zamanho casts doubt on the usefulness of convening an “alternative” parliament as some have proposed (narsoving.org/?p=444) given how many leaders are behind bars. Now is the time for the Ingush people to act on their own. All Ingush know what the problems are: they do not need anyone to speak for them. 

            Meanwhile, the powers that be continued the process of extending the detentions of those leaders until the end of December. Today, another nine of the 30 behind bars had their stay behind bars extended until December 25, bring the total to more than half (doshdu.com/sud-prodlil-arest-eshhe-devjaterym-uchastnikam-mitinga-v-magase/).