So Far This Year, Kazakhstan Disarms and Arrests 22 Criminal Groups who Seek to Hide Their Activities by Pushing ‘Extremist Religious Ideologies,’ Astana Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept. 17 – Kazakhstan remains committed to secularism in its social and political life, but a recent debate about whether young women should be allowed to wear the hijab in schools highlights continuing divides in the society of that country as to just what secularism should mean (timesca.com/kazakhstan-hijab-debate/).

            A more serious indication that Kazakhstan, like its Central Asian neighbors, faces challenges from those who believe that the country’s life should be structured according to religious and in this case Islamic principles comes in a report about the disarming and arrest of 22 religious groups by the authorities (asia24.media/news/v-kazakhstane-obezvredili-22-religioznykh-gruppy/).

            Since the end of last year, law enforcement forces there have broken up 22 criminal groups “whose members had masked their illegal actions with religious-extremist ideologies,” seized large quantities of weapons and ammunition, and arrested 64 individuals. The police played down the religious angle, suggesting instead that this was a cover for violent crime.

            But in making this report, the police did draw attention to the ways in which the religious cover was an effective strategy for these groups to win support from or at least intimidate the population, an indication that popular support for such extremist religious ideologies is far greater than Astana has wanted to admit.

            Moreover, it is a sign that Kazakhstan long viewed as a place where such extremist groups and support for them was rare compared to its Central Asian neighbors now suffers from these two things and that the government has felt compelled to stage a crackdown lest either or both increase in the future.