BISHKEK. Nov 5 (Interfax-AVN) - Supporters of the outlawed Khizb-ut-Takhir Party are trying to seize power in Kyrgyzstan, deputy head of the Kyrgyz National Security Service's Department on Terrorism Colonel Talant Razzakov has said.
He made this statement at a conference on Islam in the Public and Political Life of Central Asia, which was organized by the Carnegie Foundation, on Monday.
Razzakov made a report on the peculiarities of terrorism and extremism in Kyrgyzstan and noted that Khizb-ut-Takhir has planned three phases in overthrowing the temporal authorities in Central Asian nations.
The first phase calls for the formation of clandestine groups, each with the strength of five to six persons, and the introduction of Khizb-ut-Takhir supporters among the authorities. At present, they are mostly acting in south Kyrgyzstan.
The second phase, which is underway in Kyrgyzstan now, implies large-scale protests against the government, recruitment of supporters and distribution of radical religious booklets, Razzakov said.
More than 20,000 leaflets of Khizb-ut-Takhir were confiscated by the Kyrgyz police in January-September 2001 alone. The police also found three underground printing houses that released extremist booklets.
The third phase implies the taking of power. Khizb-ut-Takhir is using external financing (profits from drug selling) and internal financing that comes from commerce, he said.
Khizb-ut-Takhir has a rather broad network in the CIS, the colonel noted. He said that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan's Taliban are allies of the radical party.
Khizb-ut-Takhir has about 4,000 supporters in Kyrgyzstan, the National Security Service reports. Seventy-nine supporters of the outlawed organization have been sentenced by Kyrgyz courts since 1999.