The Pamiris, the native inhabitants the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region in eastern Tajikistan, have been the target of a relentless crackdown since violence sparked by government security forces broke out there in May. In November alone, at least 15 Pamiris were given long prison sentences, with five sentenced to life in prison. Two of the region's four registered lawyers are about to go on trial, behind closed doors, and they also face long prison sentences. Joining host Bruce Pannier to discuss the topic are Suzanne Levi-Sanchez, author of the book Bridging State And Civil Society: Informal Organizations In Tajik/Afghan Badakhshan; and Bakhtiyor Safarov, founder of Central Asia Consulting in the United States, who is originally from Gorno-Badakhshan.
At least 21 people were killed in Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan Republic in July, the worst violence in the country since the Andijon massacre in May 2005. Judging from information released by the commission investigating the causes of the violence, the role of the police and security forces is receiving little, if any, attention. A recent Human Rights Watch report, however, looks at law enforcement’s role. Joining host Bruce Pannier to discuss the topic are Mihra Rittmann, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, and Steve Swerdlow, a rights lawyer who has spent many years focusing on Central Asia.
President Sadyr Japarov's government is showing its intolerance for citizens who question government decisions. In a widely posted video and photos, veteran rights defender Aziza Abdurasulova, who is in her 70s, was dragged away by police outside the government building in Bishkek on November 15. Abdurasulova has been a vocal critic of the detentions of more than two dozen people who oppose a controversial border deal Japarov's government reached with neighboring Uzbekistan. Who is being targeted in Kyrgyzstan and why? Joining host Bruce Pannier to discuss the topic are Syinat Sultanalieva, researcher on Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for Human Rights Watch, and Ivar Dale, senior policy adviser at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, who was in Kyrgyzstan in October.
Incumbent Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev is sure to win Kazakhstan’s early presidential election on November 20. But this has been a tumultuous year for the country, starting with the largest outbreak of violence in its brief history and an array of problems linked to Kazakhstan’s ties with giant neighbor Russia amid the latter’s war on Ukraine. Will Toqaev’s decision to have an early vote help resolve any of these and other issues? Joining host Bruce Pannier to discuss the topic are Ben Godwin, the head of analysis at PRISM Political Risk Management who lived and worked in Kazakhstan for seven years and continues to track events there, and Darkhan Umirbekov, digital editor at RFE/RL’s Kazakh service in Astana.
The recent detentions of politicians, activists, and journalists in Kyrgyzstan and the two conflicts the country has fought in the last 18 months with neighboring Tajikistan have one thing in common they stem from attempts to finally demarcate disputed areas of Kyrgyzstan’s borders with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Marking Kyrgyzstan’s borders with its southern and western neighbors has not only been difficult, it has been risky. Joining host Bruce Pannier to discuss the situation are Viktoria Akchurina, author of the recently released book Incomplete State-Building In Central Asia: The State As Social Practice, and Bakyt Beshimov, formerly a member of the Kyrgyz parliament, a Kyrgyz ambassador to India and to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.