What is religious extremism?
Officials were unspecific when asked what they meant by religious extremism, and how the struggle against it would be carried out. “It is the Coordinating Council’s duty to expose destructive and extremist religious movements in the territory of Kyrgyzstan,” Musaliyev of the Cabinet of Ministers responded. Osmanaliev of the State Agency said that “only courts” in Kyrgyzstan can decide which religious movements are extremist. “So far, such decisions have been made on organisations like Hizb-ut-Tahrir” (see http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=170 for an outline of this group’s views), he stated. “None of the existing and registered organisations are considered as extremists here,” Osmanaliev assured Forum 18. He did not discuss the situation of unregistered organisations, or those whose registration the new Law threatens. Asked what would happen if names of existing organisations were claimed in Council meetings to have negative effects, Osmanaliev would only said that the Coun
