tajikistanweb.com

The British Ambassador to Tajikistan Graeme Loten has criticized the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) for their apathy towards the population’s hardship during the past winter. The IRPT did not follow the pattern set by other opposition parties to taunt Rahmon’s administration for power shortage that caused newborn deaths and winter havoc in the country.

The British Ambassador spoke on the 35 ^th anniversary of the only legal Islamic party of Central Asia in Dushanbe. He said, he did not believe that criticizing the government for its shortcomings contradicts patriotism. On the contrary, he added, raising your voice in such a condition and suggesting a way out of crisis is exactly what ‘patriotism’ is supposed to mean.

However, Muhyiddin Kabiri, the leader of the IRPT, is convinced that the government’s feebleness was obvious during the crisis and the party had not seen it appropriate to criticize authorities as the country could have ended up enduring a bigger loss. The party was not willing to destabilize the country, hence refrained itself from lashing authorities, Kabiri added. The IRPT leader thinks that time has changed and from now on problems of the society will be cited and the factors of the problems will be pointed out.

Kabiri’s rapid shift in stance might have been prompted by an unprecedented criticism for passiveness by a foreign ambassador. Graeme Loten had not been known for his frankness in discussing Tajikistan’s internal problems. Actually, Tajikistan had never seen an ambassador brave enough to question the government’s attitude. But British diplomacy with a precedent of having an blunt rebellious ambassador like Craig Murray in Uzbekistan proved to be different in Tajikistan too. The British Embassy in Dusanbe took over the role of the local presidency of the European Union in Tajikistan on July 1, 2007, and in November 2007 Tajik legislation was criticized by Graeme Loten as the local chair of the EU. "Tangled legislation must be simplified, information on investments must be more transparent and, most importantly, corruption must be fought at all levels," he said.

In another attempt to emphasize the authorities’ association with corruption, Loten travelled to Kulab district to deliver the British aid to local people personally bypassing the governmental conduit; an act undertaken by fewer heads of diplomatic missions.

Loten’s criticism of the Islamic Renaissance Party was indirectly addressed to the government. By admonishing the party, the Ambassador was actually emphasizing the government’s deficiency in tackling the most basic problems of the population. Tajik government unaccustomed to diplomatic straightforwardness might find his "intrusiveness" quite upsetting. However, Britain as a main donor of Tajikistan will never come out as a loser of any potential diplomatic dispute with Dushanbe.