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62 I Eurasia bne September 2022
Khorog, the remote capital of the GBAO region, is connected to Dushanbe by only one road. / GBAO Administration Press Service.
Tajikistan’s unprecedented GBAO crackdown threatens a centuries-old culture
Bruce Pannier in Prague
In the more than 30 years that the Central Asian states have been independent there have been dozens of crackdowns on perceived opponents of their governments, but none reached the level of repression the Tajik admin- istration is currently meting out to the Pamiri peoples of the eastern Gorno- Badakhshan Autonomous
Oblast (GBAO).
Most of the influential local figures
in GBAO have been either arrested or killed since mid-May when government forces initiated a so-called anti-terror- ism operation in response to peaceful protests in the regional capital Khorog.
And the crackdown is continuing.
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GBAO is different from the rest of Tajikistan and that is the reason for the unprecedented repressive campaign still underway there.
The region accounts for more than 40% of the territory of Tajikistan, but nearly all of it is mountainous, with some peaks reaching altitudes of more than 7,000 metres. Of the 10mn citizens of Tajikistan, only around 250,000 live in GBAO and most of them are Pamiris who are ethnically, culturally and linguistically distinct from Tajiks.
Most Tajiks are Sunni Muslims, but Pamiris are Shiites of the Ismaili sect, fol- lowers of the Aga Khan, the 49th imam in the unbroken line that started with Ali.
The territory of modern-day GBAO
has always been a remote area. Before the arrival of Russians at the end of the 19th century, few outsiders ever made their way into the mountain fastness of the region. People have been living there for thousands of years. The ruins of the Yamchun and Khakha fortresses in GBAO date back to the 3rd century BC.
Only one road connects GBAO with the Tajik capital Dushanbe and that road is often closed by snow and avalanches. There is a small airport at Khorog, but unpredictable mountain weather often prevents planes from travelling there for weeks at a time.
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, in