Watchdog

DUSHANBE -- The U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan has called on the Central Asian nation's government to secure full Internet reconnection for residents of the volatile Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), who have been living without access to the Internet since mass anti-government protests in November.

In a tweet on March 16, the embassy expressed concerns regarding the lack of Internet access in the region's capital, Khorugh, and adjacent districts.

"The U.S. Embassy remains concerned about Internet blockage in GBAO which impacts the ability of residents to access information, run businesses, and exercise freedom of expression. We call on Tajikistan to respect this fundamental freedom, and to restore full Internet access," the embassy's statement said.

The protests in Khorugh broke out on November 25 last year after security forces fatally wounded a local man wanted on charges of kidnapping. The protesters demanded a probe into his death.

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The rally turned violent when protesters tried to seize the local government building, prompting security forces to fire into the crowd, killing at least one person.

Violence continued for several days.

Protests are rare in the tightly controlled nation of 9.5 million where President Emomali Rahmon has ruled for nearly three decades.

Tensions between the government and residents of the restive region have simmered ever since a five-year civil war broke out shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

GBAO, a linguistically and ethnically distinct region, has been home to rebels who opposed government forces during the conflict.

NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev has pledged constitutional reforms to limit the powers of his office two months after deadly public protests in the oil-rich country prompted him to call in troops from Russia and other countries in the region to restore order.

Speaking on March 16 in his first major address to the Central Asian nation since the unrest, which was sparked in part by discontent over the ruling class and left at least 230 dead with thousands more arrested, Toqaev blamed the violence on "top officials" who were upset with his "modernization of the state" and fomented anger by spreading lies.

"It is well-known that the monopolization of political and economic activity was the main reason for the January events," he said.

"The old system of administration oriented toward the super concentration of power has lost its effectiveness and is unable to bring unity to civil society," he added.

Protests in the remote town of Zhanaozen in early January over a sudden fuel-price hike quickly spread across Kazakhstan and led to violent clashes in the country's largest city, Almaty, and elsewhere.

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What's Behind The State Of Emergency And Protests Erupting Across Kazakhstan?

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However, much of the public anger in the unrest was also directed at former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, who resigned in 2019 but retained large political influence in the tightly controlled state with almost limitless powers.

Many of his family members and associates were handed control of lucrative businesses while ordinary citizens failed to share in the country's vast energy wealth.

Since the protests, Nazarbaev and a growing number of those around him have lost their official posts.

Toqaev said in his address that he will introduce further reforms "to increase the effectiveness of the parliament" and simplify the process for registering new political parties.

He said that the country's leaders should not lead political parties and that he would reestablish a constitutional court dismantled under Nazarbaev.

Toqaev also said that Nazarbaev's highly unpopular merger of three administrative regions in the country's east, center, and southeast would be reversed, with the regions being given new names.

"The important lesson of the tragic January events is the fact that the concentration of power in the hands of the top official in the state wrongly increased the influence of individuals close to him and that of financial and oligarchic groups," he said.

"They considered the state as their own backyard. Nepotism in any country inevitably leads to negative cadre selection and becomes the perfect soil for corruption to flourish," Toqaev said.

Though Kazakhstan often touts its democratic reforms, especially in comparison to many other countries in Central Asia, it has been chided by rights groups for failing to enact the deep reforms needed, a point highlighted by the protests.

Toqaev said he and his government "accepted" that law enforcement had used torture against some of those detained during and after the protests, but pledged that cases would be investigated because they "contradict the principles of any democratic society."