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Kazakhstan curbs religious freedom to halt militancy
ALMATY: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a tough religion law on Thursday banning prayer rooms in state buildings, a measure aimed at stamping out Islamist militancy but criticized by Kazakhstans top Muslim cleric and the West.Nazarbayev, 71, has ruled Kazakhstan for more than 20 years as a secularist autocrat. Until this year, the 70 percent Muslim country largely avoided the Islamist violence seen in other central Asian ex-Soviet states like Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. But a suicide bombing in May and the arrest in August of a group accused of a terrorist plot raised fears of a surge in militancy, prompting Nazarbayev to call for the new law to help curb extremism. The law, swiftly approved by the compliant legislature, has caused heated debate. Article 7 bans prayer rooms in all state institutions. Kazakhstans Supreme Mufti, Absattar Derbisali, said this could anger pious Muslims and spur extremism. The law also requires all missionaries in the country to register with the authorities every year. Rights groups in the West, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, have raised concern that it may restrict religious freedom. Among recent measures to fight Islamist militancy, Kazakhstan temporarily blocked access to a number of foreign Internet sites in August after a court ruled they were propagating terrorism and inciting religious hatred. Posted by: Steve White 2011-10-14 |
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