Has Yuldashev Made a Deal With Karimov?

That’s the implication in Ferghana.ru’s interesting interview with Hatam Hajimatov about the Birodar movement, aka Akramians. Hajimatov apparently believes that Uzbek refugees returned from the US to Andijan because of a a fatwa from their leader, brokered as part of a deal with the Uzbek government:

Hatam Hajimatov: I had friends in the organization. I saw how they lived and how their mentors treated them. Every man had a mentor, someone to be told everything about the man’s life, family, troubles, problems. Mentor’s advice was to be obediently followed. Discipline in the organization was really something.

The Birodars eventually became a closed sect, intermarrying only within it. I knew leaders of the organization, and the Brothers were quite open with me because they thought I was one of them.

Ferghana.Ru: Granted asylum in the United States and Europe, a lot of Uzbek refugees opted to go home. Why?

Hatam Hajimatov: I think the Uzbek government and Yuldashev made some sort of pact. Released from the Ivanovo detention cell, I moved to Ukraine where I met the leader of the Akramians living there. Well, this man told me in early 2006 that they might be returning home soon. He wanted to know whether I was going back on the strength of a special fetvah (religious instruction). I saw through the disguise of course and said that I certainly was. The man said he would inform his superiors. It convinced me that they had some plans of return to Uzbekistan.

The fetvah may be issued by Aka (this is how Yuldashev is colloquially known) or by his envoy. It does not matter. Yuldashev’s followers trust him. Their have been brainwashed, you know. These people did abandon everything – their homes, families, and children – on May 13, 2005, and made it to Kyrgyzstan. Into the great unknown. They survived deaths and automatic rifle fire to get there. These days, they are ready to go back – regardless of the danger of arrests and torture awaiting them in Uzbekistan.

This post was written by...

Laurence – author of 618 posts on Registan.net.

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