Tajik Islamic Paper Sacks Modernising Editor

The dismissal of the editor who runs the newspaper of Tajikistan’s Islamic opposition party highlights a rift between traditionalists and modernisers in Central Asia’s only legal Muslim party, analysts say.

Sulton Hamadov was only drafted in as chief editor of Najot in January this year. His appointment was seen as a clear sign that the Islamic Rebirth Party in Tajikistan, IRP, wanted to reach out to a wider audience as it gears up for a parliamentary election expected next February.

Hamadov’s summary dismissal on July 1 thus came as something of a surprise. The reason that was given raised even more eyebrows – in an editorial, he had said that a party meeting was attended by “the head of the party”, when it was not IRP chairman Sayed Abdullo Nuri who was there but his first deputy Muhiddin Kabiri.

IRP spokesman Hikmatullo Saifullozoda said the reason why Hamadov was sacked was not so much the error itself as his refusal to accept it when it was pointed out. The editor had argued that since Nuri was out of the country, his deputy was standing in for him so describing Kabiri as “head” was technically accurate.

Party leaders also accused Hamadov of putting editorial staff under too much pressure.

The spokesman was keen to downplay any talk of a rift within the party. “This incident is an internal matter for the party, it’s not a split and not a question of censorship,” insisted Saifullozoda.

But analysts in Tajikistan say the conflict does reflect wider disagreements over policy directions within the IRP. The party was legalised after the peace agreement which ended the bitter 1992-97 civil war, which pitted the IRP-led mujahedin of the United Tajik Opposition against the government of President Imomali Rahmonov.

The party disarmed its guerrillas and turned to peaceful politics, but even though it had been granted a mandatory quota of government posts in the peace deal, it failed to win more than two seats in a parliamentary election held in 2000.

The IRP’s failure to capitalise on its position was partly due to its Islamic profile, and also due to its identification with specific parts of the country – the civil war was fought along regional as well as ideological lines. But it was also due to Rahmonov’s adroit moves to erode political opposition.

Ahead of next year’s poll, the party faces the challenge of winning the confidence of voters from all across the country, and demonstrating to those suspicious of its Islamic tag that it is a modern political force with a broad economic and social agenda.

The IRP contains influential reformers determined to do just that. Chief among them is Kabiri, who engineered Hamadov’s appointment earlier this year to turn Najot into an effective campaigning tool.

Kabiri was brought into the party leadership in 1997 when Nuri clearly realised he needed a right-hand man who was educated, spoke foreign languages and knew how to conduct PR.

“Since Kabiri has been there, the party has started to look more modern and democratic, which naturally made it more attractive in Tajik society and added more supporters in urban areas, as well as winning it a good reputation with the West,” explained political analyst Tursun Kabirov.

“Kabiri visits Europe frequently for conferences and to give speeches at leading universities. Even his appearance – wearing a tie, clean-shaven, and without the traditional Muslim headgear - all that presents a secular image.”

But the party also has an old guard of traditionalists, some – like leader Nuri – enjoying credibility as Islamic clerics imprisoned as dissidents in Soviet times, and others with a record as guerrilla leaders during the civil war, in which Kabiri did not take part.

“It is the democratic, secular nature of his [Kabiri’s] views that is disliked by some supporters of traditional Islam in the party; they form a majority and exert particular influence at the top,” said Kabirov.

Hamadov’s management of the paper’s editorial content clearly favoured Kabiri’s modernist trend. In an interview with IWPR, he said he was sacked after some IRP leader had criticised him for publishing photos of women without Muslim headscarves, and also pictures of political figures who had broken with the party.

“The fact that Hamadov was invited to work at an Islamic newspaper in the first place is a sort of admission that there was a need to change the modus operandi,” said political analyst Rashid Ghani. “Perhaps the newspaper developed too quickly and it began to outpace the evolution of individual IRP members and the mass membership….and the result was that it ended in this manner.”

Hamadov thinks that his dismissal was intended to provoke a confrontation which Kabiri would lose – but the politician wisely did not rise to the bait. “There is a group of people in the party led by one of Nuri’s deputies who are against Kabiri,” he said. “It was Kabiri who invited me to join the newspaper as he wanted to improve it. But many in the party disliked the idea, fearing that his reputation would be boosted because I supported his line.”

According to Hamadov, “They announced they were firing me in the hope that Kabiri would defend me, but he realised the gravity of the situation and caught them off guard by saying he’d do as they wanted.”

An IRP member who asked not to be named told IWPR that Kabiri was seen as a threat by some in the party, saying, “There are rumours among the members that he wants to become chairman. I am aware of talk that the West also supports him.”

However, Rashid Ghani does not believe that the generational conflict between old and new guards in the IRP must necessarily lead to a schism. He believes, “Kabiri has the same ideas and goals as the party, but as he belongs to a different generation, has a different educational background, and came into politics at a different time, he is more attuned to modernity and is more receptive to the changing times.”

One party member who asked to remain anonymous agrees, telling IWPR, “I joined the party in 2001 when I saw people like Muhiddin Kabiri. He supports reforming the party, as the majority of people have no need for it the way it used to function during the civil war. He’s a widely educated person, whereas many party members, particularly from the older generation, don’t read anything except the Koran.”

The upset at Najot comes at a time when Tajikistan’s other political parties are building up their newspapers for the election campaign. The pro-presidential People’s Democratic Party has hired an experienced editor for its Minbari Khalq paper, the biggest opposition party, the Communists, have revamped their Nidoi Ranjbar into a regular weekly, and the smaller Social Democrats have recruited a journalist from the leading Asia-Plus newspaper to head the editorial team for their new publication.

If the IRP wants its currently low-circulation newspaper to compete, it will have to broaden Najot’s appeal rather than imposing stricter rules on what it can and can’t publish. According to analyst Kabirov, most political parties are clamouring to recruit good editors for their publications as they recognise that public presentation will be an important facet of the coming election fight.

“They realise that behind each of these [journalists] stands a body of readers who are potential new supporters for the party,” said Kabirov.

Zafar Abdullaev is director of the Avesta news agency.