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Kazakhstan is bordered on the north west and north by Russia, on the
east by China and on the south west by Kyrgyzstan. Kazakhstan is the
largest country in Central Asia and the ninth largest in the world.
With its 1 000 000 square miles territory, Kazakhstan is a mineral
rich country. It possesses 57.4 percent of all copper, 56.3 percent of
all lead and 49.8 percent of all zinc in the Soviet Union. It borders
the Aral Sea in the south west, which is the world’s largest salt
water lake. It is a predominantly Muslim country.
The Russians began their conquest of Transoxiana and Samarkand (which
is part of present day Kazakhstan) from as early as 1734, and
completely annexed them in 1873. From 1873 till 1920, this region was
ruled by the terrorist Czarist Regime. On August 26, 1920 the Soviet
Government established the Kirgiz Autonomous Republic, which in 1925
changed its name to Kazakh A-SS-R. From August 26 1920, the Soviet
Regime ruled Kazakhstan until it gained full independence on December
16, 1991.
The Muslims of Kazakhstan were brutally persecuted and inhumanely
oppressed under Soviet Rule. The terrorist Soviet Regime began
Sovietizing Kazakh villages from as early as 1926. Kazakhstan being a
predominantly rural region, Sovietization of its villages enjoyed top
priority in Soviet policy.
The administration of the state was put under the charge of a Russian,
the first secretary of Kazakhstan Communist party, Fillip Isa Yevic
Goioshchokin. The new Republic accelerated the pace of Russian
Colonization. The Turkestan – Siberia railway was opened in order to
facilitate Russian immigration. The arrangement did not attract many
Russian Colonizers.
In the meantime the Kazakh Nomads were up in revolt against the
high-handedness with which they were made to settle on collective
farms, giving up their nomadic life. Even the Kazakhstan vice premier
U.D. Kulumbetov admitted in 1932 that settlement of nomads was carried
on by high-handed measures.
These revolts as well as the policy of “liquidation of Nomads” led to
disastrous losses in livestock. According to Lawrence Krader, in 1926
Kazakhstan had 40 million livestock which was reduced by 1930 to 33
million and more losses would have occurred in the succeeding years.
According to Oalf Caroe, between 1928 and 1934, Kazakhstan lost 73
percent of cattle, 87 percent of sheep and 83 percent of horses. His
estimation is based on Soviet sources.
As peace was restored on the agricultural front in September 1932,
Kazakh nationalists, while demanding freedom from Russian tutelage,
killed shock brigade workers, mostly Russians, contrived railway
accidents, undermined collective farms, sabotaged state industry and
made organized attacks on the lives of the Communist leaders. The
upsurge of violence continued throughout the thirties.
The Soviet response to a revolt of such wide dimensions was
multi-pronged. Soviet reprisals against the revolting masses included
depopulation of the area of revolt, police action, genocide and
transportation of people to Siberia and concentration camps where they
most probably died due to extreme cold and starvation. This is
supported by an expert analyst of the Soviet population.
Between 1926 and 1936, the number of Kazakhs in the Soviet Union
dropped by 869 000. More than 1.5 million Kazakhs died during this
period, the majority from starvation and related diseases, others as a
result of violence. This amount of Russification reduced Kazakhs to a
minority in their own land. In 1926, Kazakhs constituted 57 percent of
the population of Kazakhstan. In 1939, their percentage was lesser
than 50. According to a 1970 census, the population of Kazakhs was 4,
234, 000, of Russia’s, 5, 522, 000 and of Ukrainians, 933,000.
The Soviet Regime did not only Sovietize Kazakhstan but forced
thousands of peaceful nomads under police escort to work in factories
and mines. Men and women were driven out of their homes after
confiscating their furniture and animals.
A nation’s history is the basis of its self identity, its
individuality and its distinctiveness as a group. Distortion of its
history weakens its sense of self identity and drains off the vitality
from its striving to live as a free nation. Because of this, the
Soviets have been attempting to impose on the people of Kazakhstan
their own conception of history. Soviet authorities see to it that
Kazakh writers, intellectuals and moulders of public opinion subscribe
to their concept of Kazakh history. In order to foist on Kazakhs their
ridiculous concept of Kazakhstan history, ridiculous versions of
Kazakh history were prepared by a group of communists. In addition to
this, the usage of the Arabic alphabet was banned under the Soviets.
Islam was largely surpressed under Soviet Rule. Muslims were generally
prevented from practicing the five pillars of Islam. Zakat was totally
suppressed. Births, weddings and burials are conducted by clandestine
Mullahs (a term used for ulamā) who face the perpetual threat of
arrest. For the common Muslims, the road to Makkah is barred. The
Ramadhan fast is severely punished by the authorities. Those who are
caught fasting are immediately expelled from work. The practise of
five prayers vanished from Central Asia during Soviet Rule. The
destruction of mosques and madrassa’s continued unabated. Between 1928
– 1932 all Mullahs disappeared from Central Asia.
This is only the tip of the ice berg. Islamic history bears testimony
to the fact that whenever a Muslim population engaged in sinful and
immoral activities, they were punished in various forms and ways,
often with disastrous effects.
In the case of Kazakhstan, an Islamic majority in an Islamically based
country was utterly reduced to a minority by the usage of oppressive
and inhumane measures. The Russians won the physocological war against
Muslims by exposing them to nude women, music and a host of other
forbidden activites before easily defeating them physically.
Similarly, we as Msulims are being challenged psychologically by the
Kuffar, whether it be music, pornographic websites, drugs or all other
haram acts. If we start abandoning our sinful activities and turn
solely to Allah, we will most certainly win the psychological war and
a physical victory will be a distant impossibility to the Kuffar.
Muslims are been persecuted and bombarded from all sides because they
have lost the psychological war making the physical war a probability.
C
(Hafez Ismail Desai, 4th year student) |