Established in the 1950s in the Middle East, Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami (The Party of Islamic Liberation) began operating in Central Asia around 10 years ago. The group advocates replacing the governments of the Muslim world with an Islamic state in the form of a caliphate. Although the group professes only peaceful means to achieve its aims, Central Asian governments have mostly taken a harsh stance against it.

Officials in the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are resorting to repressive measures in an effort to counteract the clandestine activity of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamic group. Despite the officials’ increasingly coercive measures, one regional analyst has described the radical group as “growing like a hydra.”

How big a threat is Hizb ut-Tahrir? As Central Asian governments continue their crackdown on unsanctioned Islamic groups they say pose a threat to regional security, the Hizb ut-Tahrir movement, which advocates a return to “pure” Islam and the creation of a region-wide Islamic state, is an elusive and mysterious target. Among the most feared […]