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power since 1992, has gradually con- solidated his grip over Tajikistan in the years since the 1992-1997 Tajik civil war, but Tajik authorities have only ever had a tenuous hold over GBAO and that was only possible by working with influen- tial local figures, who came to be known as “informal leaders”.
The protests that happened in May could not happen anywhere else in Tajikistan. The government has been firmly in control of the rest of Tajikistan for years and any attempt at a public demonstration of dissatisfaction is quickly neutralised.
But in GBAO protests have happened several times since the end of the civil war and the violence in May, while the worst seen since the days of the confict, was not the first incident of unrest in the 25 years since the Tajik peace accord was signed.
Most of GBAO was opposition territory during the civil war. The Pamiri group Lali Badakhshan, the Ruby of Badakh- shan, was part of an interesting coali- tion of Islamic and democratic groups that formed the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) and fought against government forces. The rugged terrain of GBAO made the region ideal for UTO bases.
Rahmon’s government has never forgot- ten the role that GBAO and its people played during the civil war.
The central government has never allo- cated much money for GBAO. The Aga Khan Foundation has played the lead role in developing the region, building schools, including the University of Central Asia in Khorog, small hydro- power plants and bridges connecting the region with Afghanistan. It has also developed hybrid crops that can grow at high altitudes.
But unemployment remains high in GBAO, something which has fuelled the illegal trafficking of many items, from narcotics to precious and semi- precious stones.
Tensions became high in GBAO from November 25, 2021, when 29-year-old
GBAO resident Gulbuddin Ziyobekov was killed by security forces. Months earlier Ziyobekov had beaten and humiliated a local security official who had lecherous designs on a local woman. Police said Ziyobekov offered armed resistance in November when
Local activists formed a group called Commission 44 to work with state inves- tigators, but by January, members of Commission 44 were already critical of the state investigation. Commission 44 spokesman Khujamri Pirmamadov said state investigators were only interested
“The protests that happened in May could not happen anywhere else in Tajikistan.
The government has been firmly in control of the rest of Tajikistan for years”
they came to detain him, but many in the Khorog area thought Ziyobekov was hunted down and murdered.
Ziyobekov’s body was brought to the Khorog administration building and
a protest involving several thousand people started. There was also a protest outside the Tajik Embassy in Moscow and briefly a small protest outside the UN office in Dushanbe.
Two more people were killed in Khorog before the protest ended. The internet connection to the region was cut and remained so until late March when it was partially restored.
Government officials negotiated with local leaders, as they had done several times in the past, and a truce was reached, and the government promised to investigate the causes of the violence.
in finding protesters, not the people responsible for killing Ziyobekov or those who ordered troops to fire on the protesters who assembled in Khorog the day he was killed.
Tajik authorities were also working
on eliminating criticism from outside Tajikistan about the November violence in Khorog.
From Russia, Mixed Martial Arts
fighter and GBAO native Chorshanbe Chorshanbiyev and GBAO local leader Amriddin Alovatshoyev posted criti- cisms of the government’s November actions in Khorog. Chorshanbiyev was then detained in Moscow in December for a speeding violation and deported to Tajikistan, where he was taken into cus- tody, tried on spurious charges of calling for the violent overthrow of the Tajik government and, on May 13, sentenced
The Aga Khan Foundation plays a big role in development for the Pamiri people, who are ethnically, culturally and linguistically distinct from Tajiks (Credit: AmanovDmitry, cc-by-sa 3.0).
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