Tajikistan on road to democracy

By K.N. Pandita – On November 6, 2006, Tajiks will vote for the presidential candidate. To some it is unbelievable that Tajikistan, the only republic of Central Asian region, which got engulfed in a civil and a fratricidal war after it decided to opt out after the demise of the Soviet Union, is now struggling to institutionalise her democratic political arrangement.

Large scale turmoil in Afghanistan, the state with which she has more than five hundred miles of common border to her south, had its impact on Tajik political situation. With a few pockets like Garm where radical Islamists wanted a theocratic state to replace the given model, internal as well as external forces interplayed and forged a disastrous civil war, which came to an end only five years later after an armistice of sorts was signed.

Tragic as the fratricidal war was, ironically it had a bright lining also to its edges. Tajik political activists and ideologues realised that democratic dispensation demanded tolerance and accommodation of opponents and their views in the larger interests of the nation.

All credit goes to the President Imomali Rahmanov, who braved the stormy days and held his people together against the lashing waves of history. In September last, Tajikistan celebrated the 15th year of her independence. Today Tajikistan has emerged a much unified and consolidated state with clear domestic and foreign policy.

The election of the new President scheduled for November 6, 2006 is an important event in the post-independence history of Tajikistan. The leaders of two prominent parties in opposition, namely Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) and the Democratic Party of Tajikistan with the addition of Socialist Party have opted not to challenge the candidature of the running President Imomali Rahmanov. They will not field any candidate against him. Their withdrawal is not to boycott the elections, as some sadists would like to interpret, but not to create obstacles in the path of country’s good image and gradually forward moving developmental schemes. This is also an indirect recognition of the success of Imomali Rahmanov’s managerial style.

In this connection the statement of Mohiuddin Kabiri, the new President of IRP given in late September to the Tajik Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is very significant and shows the maturing of Tajik opposition leadership. It should be noted the IRP is the only officially recognized Islamic religious party in Central Asia. He said, “ We did not want to place our country and our party at the front line of criticism that Islamic movements are very active here. We have once again sacrificed our rights so as not to block possible aid to Tajikistan.”

Obviously, Kabiri is not willing that Tajikistan should be identified as the radical Islamist country rousing suspicion among other countries that it has something to do with the radicals and the religious extremists.

This indicates political maturing of opposition in Tajikistan more than any special favour to President Rahmanov. In other words, it would also indicate the uncertainty of the opposition to field a candidate and make him win. In one way, this is good for the continuation of stability in Tajikistan and a chance for the fielded projects to reach conclusion. But at the same time a democratic dispensation is more viable and solid if the opposition is equally poised. A weak and diffident opposition seldom makes a state really strong.

As far as the Democratic Party of Tajikistan is concerned, there have appeared fissures in it and finally a split. Apparently it is torn by internal strife. On October 12, 2006 the Democratic Party published two different newspapers but with the same name viz. Adolat. The first edition of the paper was published by the Democratic Party wing headed by the jailed Muhmadruzi Iskandrov. He is in jail at the moment and is considered a political prisoner by many human rights organizations.

The other edition of Adolat paper was brought out by the recently renewed faction led by Masud Sabirov. The tussle between the two factions of the Democratic Party has been going on for some time. Unlike Iskandarov, Sabirov the head of the second faction is not in jail and is mobile. This has helped him in strengthening his faction. In September last Tajik Justice Ministry formally recognised Sabirov as the rightful leader of the Democrats. The official recognition came after his followers convened a rump party congress to proclaim Sabirov as the leader of the party. .

Reacting to this decision of the Justice Ministry, Rakhmatullo Valiev, an Iskandarov ally and the former acting chairman of the party, told local media that “someone from above” did not like our decision to boycott the presidential election, and this someone decided to throw us out of the political struggle?.

Obviously, there has been resentment within the party on the decision of the former leader Iskandarov and his faction to boycott the Presidential elections. A split in the party indicates that boycotting the presidential elections has been rejected as a line of action. This further confirms our assessment that the Tajik political parties have begun to realise the importance of stability and continuity at a very crucial juncture of Tajikistan’s history.

The tussle over holding the ownership of Adolat, the official organ of Democratic Party is now heading to a court of law for a final decision. Sabirov has signalled an intention to file a suit against Iskandarov’s supporters to prohibit them from using the party name and its newspaper.

At the same time the rump congress that sanctioned Sabirov’s leadership delegates appointed a new party editorial board headed by Muhammadibrgim Abdujabbaarov, representative of Sobirov – led wing.

At the outset of the campaign, only three candidates, including Rahmanov, had been officially registered to run. Then on October 11, two additional candidates were registered –Abdukhalim Gafarov, the leader of a renegade wing of the Socialist Party, and the Agrarian Party’s Amir Karakulov – bringing to five the total number of those seeking presidency.

An overall picture of current political scenario in Tajikistan indicates many healthy trends developing within it political milieu. It has to be understood that democratic system will take its own time to get entrenched in a society that has had a long spell of autocratic and authoritarian rule dominating the civil life. In comparison to other Central Asian States, the mechanism in Tajikistan seems to be geared to full participation of the electorate in throwing up their representative government.(The writer is the former Director of the Centre of Central Asian Studies, Kashmir University, Srinagar).