According to the opinion of its residents, the American Gallup Public Opinion Research Institute has named Tajikistan “the safest country in the world in 2023” in the ranking of countries in matters of law and order. But not everyone in Tajikistan agrees with this opinion.
Observers say that there are many shortcomings in the activities of the Tajik police, such as human rights violations, corruption, and the use of force against residents.
The American Gallup Public Opinion Research Institute wrote in its annual report “Gallup Research Law and Order Index” that 96 percent of Tajikistan’s population trusts the country’s police. Although this result was obtained based on the opinion of 1000 residents of Tajikistan, Gallup ranked Tajikistan in the first place in terms of the safety of residents and their trust in the police.
The experts of this research wrote that residents of Tajikistan do not feel danger when walking at night and believe in law enforcement and law enforcement agencies. This is Gallup’s claim at a time when news about torture and involvement of police officers in illegal arrests have been circulating in the media for the past year.
Abdurahim Kahkhorov, former minister of internal affairs of Tajikistan and former secretary of the country’s security council, told Radio Ozodi that the activity of internal affairs structures of Tajikistan is actually improving every year.
According to him, “People’s trust in police officers is very high. In my opinion, public security is also well provided,” he said.
Residents of Dushanbe also expressed their lack of trust in the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the live interviews of Radio Ozodi. But there were also people who expressed dissatisfaction with the shortcomings in the activities of the Tajik police.
General Tahir Normatov, who served as the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for several years, says that we should be realistic and that the security of the residents of the country has been well ensured in recent years. Although, according to this retired general, there are also shortcomings in every job.
In a conversation with Radio Ozodi, he said: “In some cases, there are flaws and no one keeps them secret.” According to the media, several police officers were also arrested for law violations. From conversations with my former colleagues, I know that the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is strict about the late response of its employees to residents’ complaints. I say again, in every work there are achievements and shortcomings. But now there is more progress in the activity of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”
Alikhan Ikromi, an officer of the medical-forensic examination department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan, says that every year the crime statistics tend to decrease. In particular, there have been almost no cases of brutal murder or sexual assault in the last year.
Ikromi said: “Unfortunately, fatal traffic accidents are increasing. Of course, there is no crime and there are crimes, but these are considered light crimes. There are cases where criminal cases are opened against police officers for going beyond their duty. But I must say that the statistics of such crimes are lower than in previous years.”
This is despite the recent death of Abdukahhar Rozikov, a resident of the city of Kulob, and the case of “Lakat” and the beating of a resident of Hamadani. In one case, three of them were sentenced to prison, and in another case, two were arrested. Although they were recognized as victims in the “Lakat” case, people’s criticism of the behavior of the police officers did not decrease.
Doctor of Law Shokirjon Hakimov, deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan, told Radio Ozodi that the legislation in the country has created a legal basis for the effective operation of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, according to him, several factors prevent the expansion of this order.
Hakimov believes that “as long as there is torture, corrupt relations, exceeding the limits of official authority, the perception and feeling of being without control of civil society and mass media, the effectiveness of the work of the police will decrease.”
Shakirjon Hakimov added that residents of Tajikistan finance the activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs by paying taxes, and this institution is obliged to be under the control of society. However, its work is not always transparent.
Since 2010, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, representatives of civil society and international organizations have been trying to reform law enforcement institutions. According to the goals and objectives of these reforms, not only the name of the institution should be changed from “militia” to “police”, but also the quality of relations between the internal affairs officials and the people should be raised to a new level. But this has not been done yet. The militia reform strategy was approved in 2013, and it was decided that in 2020 the militia would change its name to the police. The government announced at the time that “the reform will be carried out with the aim of creating a fundamentally new image in public opinion.” The main goal of the reforms was to raise the professional level of law enforcement officers, to fight corruption in their ranks, to eliminate torture and cruel treatment of detainees. International organizations have invested heavily in this project. But it is still not done.
This year, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, as usual, congratulated the employees of this ministry in the military unit 3502 of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the military transition ceremony. At the same time, the President of the Republic of Tajikistan ordered that “the 3502nd military unit of the Internal Troops be transformed into an urgent special purpose brigade”. It is possible that the reason for such structural changes in the Ministry of Internal Affairs comes from the words of President Rahmon himself, who expressed today: “political and military, religious and religious, and cultural and civilizational conflicts and conflicts have become so intense that the consequences of world processes and events can be predicted even for the next few days. became impossible”. In this way, it is not clear whether the main task of this force will be the protection of the people or the government.
Source : Радио Озоди