IMU leader re-emerges on video

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TASHKENT – The leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) Takhir Yuldash (a.k.a. “Takhir Yuldashev”), who reportedly died last September, has appeared in a new video released by the IMU on the Internet.

On January 12, the German newspaper Die Welt published part of the 20-minute video on its website. The video was found on a website used by the IMU to distribute information about its activities.

“We must rid the world of infidels. There are no limits before us. Our goal is to take over not only Afghanistan and Pakistan; our goal is to take over the whole world and establish a caliphate as Allah commanded”, Yuldash said, sitting among his followers. A caliphate is a traditional Islamic form of government.

The video was dedicated to those who died in clashes with the Pakistani army in Waziristan in 2009. The clip shows their funerals and tells about the circumstances of their deaths.

“Last year, we lost many brothers, but their deaths went to a good cause. Our main goal is the establishment of a caliphate, and we must sacrifice everything to reach it”, said Yuldash. Ubaidulla Uvatov, professor and director of the International Centre Imam Al-Bukhari in Samarkand and a former official of Uzbekistan’s State Committee on Religious Affairs, said he does not give Yuldash’s statements much weight.

“I do not pay much attention to such statements. Yes, today it became known that Takhir Yuldash was not killed. These appearances on the Internet will not bring about anything. But, you cannot just call it empty talk. Every time you hear about or see the latest series of explosions and terrorist acts from shakhids (suicide-bombers), your heart sinks”.

Independent Uzbek political analyst Mekhman Jabbarov said, “The latest statements from Takhir Yuldash are like the Eastern saying which goes: ‘An empty barrel makes more noise.’ This is just a PR move for Takhir Yuldash. It is a reminder that he still exists. Thus, he wants to attract the attention of the world community to himself. And this means big funding”.

“Religious fanatics, though they call themselves fighters for a pure Islam, are a group of unscrupulous businessmen who mine fame and money out of other people’s bones. They will never be able to install their regime for the simple reason that they will not be able to control it”, noted Uvatov. “Do not think of Takhir Yuldash as a personality. If he were not here, they would have come up with someone else. This all depends on the confluence of circumstances. If the wind starts blowing in the other direction, they will make a martyred freedom fighter out of him”.

According to Uvatov’s experts, the IMU leader does not have many followers: “I can confidently say that in Uzbekistan it is difficult to find religious fanatics who support Takhir Yuldash’s ideas. In all of Uzbekistan’s mosques, during prayer, the imams, among other things, call for Muslims to be obedient and to not break the laws of Islam”.

“In Uzbekistan, there are almost no people left who ever believed in Takhir Yuldash’s ideas. Any nonconformism is severely punished. In the harsh-regime prisons there are separate sections for them. After all, in a totalitarian state there can be no discussion of anything but the building of a brighter future”, Jabbarov said.

According to Uvatov and Jabbarov, Yuldash was a follower of Jumaboi Khojayev, known as Juma Namangani. After Namangani’s death, Yuldash became the head of the IMU, which initially sought only a ‘soft revolution’ in Central Asia. Later, Takhir Yuldash declared himself “a dog, an Emir of Jihad, on a path along which he will spare no one”.

The analysts said the arrest of thousands of people since 1996 who have been accused of attempting to overthrow the government led some to join the IMU. While there are no accurate numbers of the size of the IMU, Pakistani Senator Ibrahim Khan told the Pakistani Daily Times newspaper in September 2009 that some 5,000 IMU militants are hiding in North and South Waziristan.

While many IMU members are now outside Uzbekistan, former supporters still in Uzbekistan are being repressed by the government.

“Realising that they were deceived, the refugees who joined Takhir Yuldash could not leave his camp. Still, many did flee. The Uzbek government promised amnesty. Today, former IMU members cannot find work and they are not allowed to leave their home kishlak (village) or city”, Jabbarov said.