KZBlog

Chris Merriman has a good summary of recent events in Kazakhstan including the two people who set themselves on fire in public buildings, the car bomb, and now the killing of two policeman in Aktobe.

On the latter, there’s a little more information out now. According to Azattyq (RFE/RL), around midnight on June 30th a van pulled up to two policemen in an official patrol car and shot them both dead in Subarshi village, Aktobe oblast. 6 suspects have been arrested. The consensus seems to be that police have been cracking down on alternative Muslim groups, which have been growing in popularity in West Kazakhstan. Officials refer to these groups as “Wahhabi”, a strict form of Islam often compared to Puritanism and the official Islamic sect of Saudi Arabia.

Because they do not go to the official mosques under the government Muslim board and use alternative texts, they have been targeted as an extremist sect by the government. Apparently followers feel they are subject to unfair government harassment. In 2009, Azamat Karimbaev, a leader of a small Muslim community, apparently was arrested and died in jail.

There are also rumors of a serious police crackdown since the shooting, including the detention of a new mother, police arresting people in the middle of the night, and a shoot-out in the woods between soldiers and civilians.

It’s unclear whether all this shooting in Aktobe is related to the other tragic and violent events or not. What does seem to be a trend is that people feel they have no way of being represented by official government bodies. Those who set themselves on fire were responding to what they felt was injustice or undue delay in criminal court cases. The bombings, which targeted the KNB, may have come from a similar feeling of lack of alternatives.

Often my friends from Kazakhstan seem to view democracy as a sort of naive ideal or a luxury that only rich nations can afford. It’s something that can be developed only when the more practical and necessary things are taken care of such as stability and food. While there may be some truth to the idea that you need economic stability to sustain a free society, democracy also fulfills a deeply practical need. If people feel that their government and their local officials are accountable to them, they are far less likely to engage in terrorism or violent protests. While I do not condone violence against police or bombings or self-immolation, I do suspect that these are the acts of people who feel that they had no other choice. More transparency in government and more accountability to the people would do much to allay these concerns.