Tazeen Akhtar
President of the Kyrgyz Republic Sadyr Zhaparov has reiterated the resolve of the state to not let the criminals violate rule of law, they will by punished accordingly. At the same time, the leader of Kygyzstan has criticized the social media users who spread disinformation and added fuel to the fire instead of extinguish it for peace and harmony among the citizens of different nations.
In his address to the nation on 20 May , in the aftermath of unfortunate incidents with foreigners that occurred on May 17-18 in Bishkek, the President has pledged to establish a strong rule of law in the state. He said, “Now the time has come to instill order. Without order, no state can develop.Even if there are any criminals, violence against them is unacceptable.For punishment there are courts, there is the state.”
The address was awaited and the President rightly took no time to express his opinion, evaluation of what actually happened and shared his determination not to allow such incidents happen again. As he said, “So we all learned an important lesson from this incident.
The President’s address shows that he has the perfect understanding of what happened and how actually. In his words, ” Unfortunately, we are faced with an unpleasant event in the life of our society that worries us all.As a result of the actions of groups that, without understanding the essence of what was happening, succumbed to provocations, our people and the state are in a state of shock and indignation.”
Flood of Disinformation & Law Enforcement Agencies
A flood of unconfirmed material and disinformation was sweeping everyone in the negative row on the social media. The same this scribe noted in the preliminary reports shared on this media. The President also noted it correctly. He said, ” We all saw the consequences of how various unverified information and video reels about the incident that occurred on May 13 were distributed on the Internet on May 18th. Yes, if law enforcement agencies had promptly taken action and disclosed that information in full to the public in a timely manner, perhaps these events would not have happened.”
Mr. Sadyr Zhaparov made it clear that the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained the perpetrators of the incident that occurred on May 13 and carried out the required investigation. But, unfortunately, other forces interested in aggravating the situation managed to take advantage of the situation.
Pakistan-Kyrgyzstan Agree to Maintain Regular High Level Contacts
Illegal Migration & Youth of Kyrgyzstan
He addressed the issue of illegal migration and its impacts on the local people. “The demands of our patriotic youth to stop the illegal migration of foreign citizens and take tough measures against those who allow such activities are certainly justified.Such demands have been made also in the past. The relevant institutions have analyzed these issues and have begun to take the necessary measures some months ago.”
Here it is worth mentioning that the work to identify illegal overstays has already been carried out by the State Committee for National Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Disinformation/ Provocation to Youth on Social Media
Regarding disinformation on social media and spread of unconfirmed material footage or text whatsoever, the President expressed his mind and termed it provocative for the youth of his country. Thus he educated the youth to remain cautious of the elements who use their sentiments for the provocateurs own vested interests.
President said that by believing everything that appears on the Internet, not being able to objectively assess and analyze the situation, this youth succumbed to provocative calls that inflamed national feelings and brought about harm to our state interests. This very unfortunate incident occurred at the time when Kyrgyzstan had embarked on the path of development. This is a serious stain to our people, well known since ancient times for our hospitality.
We will not allow, as in the expression “a fly in the ointment spoils a barrel of honey,” for a few unprincipled youngsters, seeking easy prey, and provocateurs, intending to inflate the situation into large-scale mass disturbances, to realize their vile plans!
Action Against the Perpetrators of May 13 Incident
President shared that ,”While the incident of May 13 was being investigated, the perpetrators are being detained and investigations will be carried out to the fullest. An abridged video of the incident that was uploaded online on May 18, really infuriated young people and was accompanied by provocative online posts inciting a very false and displaced sense of national pride.”
Political Involvement
Here the President sent a message to who lost the election, as Pakistani DPM Mr. Dar also hinted at the political element involved. “I want to say directly that those who were unable to come to power and do not approve of the current campaign against corruption, specifically created WhatsApp groups and fake accounts to spread such provocative information.”
“However, on the night of May 18, efforts were made to stop young people going out onto the streets to prevent further escalation of the situation and more serious incidents.Young people gathered on that night were not dispersed by force.We had operational information that among them there were those who, with bad intentions, wanted to provoke mass unrest, and they also included those who carried weapons, President exactly noted.
Mr. Sadyr Zhaparov added , “If the police began to disperse people by brutal force, bloggers and provocateurs were already ready among them, who, as usual, planned to distribute video messages calling for further large-scale protests and mass disturbances, with the false claim: “Our government, instead of protecting the Kyrgyz, on the contrary, supports the outsiders and intends to humiliate our youth.”
President’s Personal /Official Intervention for Normalization
The President observed in the address to the nation that our misled young patriots did not know about this extremely dangerous situation. And not only young people, but the entire population did not possess the full information and they could believe and say: “Yes, this is true.”
The President gave the law enforcement agencies an order: “Take control of the situation, continuously carry out explanatory work with young people and try to stabilize the situation without any clashes.”
The LEA’s had clear orders from the President ,if there were any further looting, attacks on police, or more attacks on students in dormitories, we would take tough measures. Fortunately, this did not happen and the situation was kept under the control.
The Hooligans to be Punished
President said that in the beginning there were a few hooligans who succeeded with the attack on one of the students’ places of residence.We were able to stop them in time when they wanted to cause further unrest and commit more crimes.Now they will all receive their well-deserved punishment.
“We have now established a strong rule of law in our state. Now the time has come to instill order. Without order, no state can develop. Even if there are any criminals, violence against them is unacceptable. For punishment there are courts, there is the state. So we all learned an important lesson from this incident, President made clear.
He expressed hope that in the future our people will consider fake news and calls for protests very carefully and with calm heads, without succumbing to any provocations.If such an event repeats, from now on law enforcement agencies will revert to their forceful dispersal from the very first minutes.
“Now the public security forces are no longer as weak as before. Whoever it is, be him a Kyrgyz citizen or a foreigner, if he or she encroaches on the integrity of our state or causes unrest, they will be severely punished.”
Enlightening the Citizens about Living with Foreigners
President very well enlightened the citizens including the youth that the country cannot grow on its own; it moves forward, maintaining close ties with the outside world. It is necessary to have strong ties with all countries of the world. He called on them to explore the world. He said that you all need to travel and visit other states.When our youth travels abroad, they will learn how to distinguish between black and white, gain tolerance and experience of other cultures.
“Currently, more than a million of Kyrgyz citizens study and work abroad.Like our citizens, people from abroad also come to us to study and work with us. We should celebrate them and be happy about this development. You know very well what it is all about: friendship, communication, experience and tourism. You know that in legal language all this is called international relations, people diplomacy, tourism, President continued.
Tourism / Foreign Investment Factor
President educated the citizens about the international tourism and foreign investments and referred to already discussed potential of Kyrgyzstan in these sectors as the country has many tourist attractions and investment opportunities.
He said that all states live in contact with the outside world, investing and attracting investments into countries, thus growing and prospering.This is the classic model used by all. Like many other states, today’s Kyrgyzstan is beginning to embrace this path.As many of you currently yourself propose and say “let’s promote international tourism.”
“You say that “we have wonderful places, let’s attract tourists, let them come and see that we are no less than others.” You yourself said that the tourism industry brings so much profit to our country.Others are also struggling to attract tourists to their country. We should not allow any damage to our country’s reputation in the eyes of the international community, the President elaborated.
Violation of Kyrgyz Traditions
President said that another problem is that if the tourists who come to us do not comply with generally accepted cultural norms, then let us slowly prompt them.This is just one example, but, you all agree, we can talk about how we can improve our hospitality.
Kyrgyz Children Abroad / Reciprocal Respect
Mr. Sadyr Zhaparov raised another mindful point of not disturbing the children of other nations in Kyrgyzstan as our own children are also studying and working abroad.
He said that our children also live abroad; as we say in our tradition that when a person is forty steps from his home, they become vulnerable – in Kyrgyz ‘musapyr’. I say this because we need to try not to undermine our relations with the outside world. Let’s develop investment and attract tourism and, of course, maintain and cherish our national custom of hospitality.
“At the very least, we must remember that our sons and daughters abroad may face the same treatment. All our citizens are concerned right now and are rightfully raising their voice about what has occurred.”
Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyz Republic Shares Chronology of Events in Bishkek
