The Islamic Party of Turkestan, formerly known as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), is known for its incursions into Kyrgyzstan’s territory in 1999 and 2000. The other two groups that were banned by the Kyrgyz Supreme court, are among the Uyghur organizations that claim to act for the interests of the Uyghur people in China.

The initiative to ban the aforementioned groups came from the General Prosecutor’s office of Kyrgyzstan, which addressed competent judiciary bodies in the beginning of this year. In May, the Pervomai rayon court in Bishkek made a ruling in support of the initiative, which was later supported by the Supreme court of the country.

The General Prosecutor’s office describes this move as a proactive measure against the spread of radical extremist streams in the country, which advocate ideas of political and religious extremism, nationalism and radical Islamic fundamentalism. It explained that the main threat to the country’s national security and territorial integrity is posed by international radical extremist and terrorist groups, which have been trying to strengthen their position in the Central Asian region.

In an interview with RFE/RL, a representative of the General Prosecutor’s office, Bakyt Osmonaliev, noted that the court ruling was needed because Kyrgyzstan is a signatory of a number of international agreements and that these groups were announced as terrorist and extremist because they have organized terrorist acts and other crimes and they have been carrying out active propaganda calling for the overthrow of the constitutional regime.

The Kyrgyz government and the law-enforcement bodies have welcomed the court’s decision, which they claim laid a firm legal basis to suppress the illegal activities of these organizations. A Kyrgyz National Security Service representative told the Deutsche Welle that the court ruling finally “unleashed the hands” of the security forces regarding extremists and terrorists.

While the court decision evoked excitement among security services, it has evoked some concern and questions among some politicians, human rights activists, and public figures. Alisher Abdimomunov, Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Jogorku Kenesh (Kyrgyz Parliament) compared the ban on these groups to a fight against shadows, and is skeptical about the potential of the court ruling to bring effective results in the fight against terrorism and extremism.

Tursun Islam, a member of the “Ittipak” Uyghur organization in Kyrgyzstan, in an interview to RFE/RL evaluated this decision as inaccurate. According to him, there is no such party as the East Turkestan Liberation Organization per se, because in order to be a party there should be some kind of a charter and/or programme, which it does not have. The two Uyghur organizations were banned under the pressure of the Chinese government and it had less to do with the domestic security threat that they pose, according to Tursun Islam.

Kyrgyz human rights activist Tursunbek Akunov is of similar opinion. In an interview to IWPR, he said that banning these groups is related more with the attempts of the Kyrgyz government to please world powers such as the United States, Russia and China than with defending national security. Another Kyrgyz human rights activist, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Deutsche Welle said that this move constituted a license to further crack down on dissent. “Under the pretense of stirring up the fight against separatists, extremists and terrorists, persecution of the opposition and civil society activists will gain strength. The court ruling will give the government a free hand”, he added.