(C) OpenDemocracy This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The assassination that shook the Pamir Mountains to the core [1] [] Date: 2022-08 The Tajik security services published an open letter to Colonel Boqir online, saying that if he did not open the road through Bar Khorog (a road nicknamed the “Heroin Highway”), they would kill a hostage a day until he complied. As one source put it: hostages would be killed if Boqir “did not order his supporters to reopen the vital road that connects Dushanbe with China and via which trucks belonging to one of the president’s daughters transport goods”. According to local sources, the security forces killed two hostages and also sent gruesome evidence of what they’d done to Boqir. Several people close to the late colonel said he felt personally responsible for the killings, and was worried they would continue. At the same time as the violence in Rushan, the Aga Khan wrote a letter encouraging Ismailis in GBAO “to live within the laws of the land”, to avoid violence and “resolve differences with wisdom through peaceful dialogue in the spirit of mutual respect and understanding”. As one local source explained to me, Boqir “stopped resisting” when AKDN officials handed him and his supporters the letter, even though the latter had been “ready to fight till the end”. On 22 May, after receiving the letter and the gruesome message from Rushan, it was reported that Boqir went for a walk. He must have known that it would end in catastrophe. There were surveillance drones in the area, troops stationed around Bar Khorog, and only a day earlier snipers had allegedly fired on Boqir’s home four times. There were also reports that surveillance drones and snipers had been in place around Bar Khorog since January, long before the May protests. Several local sources reported that Boqir left Bar Khorog on the afternoon of 22 May. He approached the bridge over the Ghund River to the neighbouring mahalla, Boine. The latter was controlled by Tajikistan’s elite Alpha security forces, who had deployed drones and snipers in the surrounding hills. According to a resident of Bar Khorog, Boqir was shot by security officers in a pick-up truck that approached the bridge after getting information about his movements. They shot him first in the arm and then in the head. One young man was killed and another injured when they ran in to try to protect him. Local sources described the security forces hooting and hollering in glee, celebrating and dancing in the streets after Boqir was killed. End of an era The murder of Colonel Boqir – a goal of the Tajik government for over a decade – signalled the end of an era of independent and autonomous leadership in GBAO. Sadly, this spells the end for one of the most active civil societies in Central Asia. Boqir’s death was the start of a massive crackdown in Khorog, and a slew of arrests, torture and confiscation of property by the government of Tajikistan. People were coerced into signing humiliating and self-incriminating statements. Between the end of November 2021 to July 2022, it has been reported as well as corroborated with local sources that arrest warrants for more than 700 Pamiris have been issued. Hundreds have been arrested and at least 40 civilians killed. After spending almost seven years living on and off in the region and writing about it, I gained a deep respect for the vibrancy and inclusiveness of the system of local governance. But this entire network of leaders and local organisations in Khorog is now being systematically destroyed. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/gorno-badakhshan-mamadboqirov-tajikistan-pamir-mountains/ Published and (C) by OpenDemocracy Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/