namahatta.org - Congregational Development Ministry

Vineet Chander
Director of Communications (North America)
International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Kazakhstan continues aggression against minorities, ignores international outcry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: February 5, 2007

Almaty – Impervious to international outcry, government officials in the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan have intensified their attacks against members of the Hare Krishna religion, a Vaishnava Hindu tradition. A local court ordered more homes belonging to the Krishna devotees to be demolished, the Associated Press reported, threatening to leave more families homeless in freezing temperatures at any moment.

[These updates were published at www.sivaramaswami.com, among others.]

UPDATE: November 22, 2006 - Destruction of Krishna Community

By Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swami

Krishna devotees are in a state of Shock in Kazakhstan.

24 hours after 200 riot police appeared at the their farm community, the devotees are sifting through the ruins of their homes trying to salvage clothes and belongings.

The Omon riot police threw the personal belongings of the Hindus into the mud and snow, while loading the furniture on the back of trucks. The officials said the furniture and household belongings would be destroyed.

Many of the devotees were left without clothes. The officers cut the power to the area so there was no light or possibility to run heating systems.

 

My internet connection works only at times, and for more than a week I couldn't get connected at all. I'm not sure, therefore, if I'm aware of the latest developments in the Kazakhstan-crisis. To me it seems, though, as if protests by Indian media and officials, ISKCON devotees, and Hindu-organizations all over the world are causing the central government of Kazakhstan to keep the local administration in Almaty in check – for the time being.

Kazakh authorities are known for their intolerance towards religious and cultural minorities; the human-rights organization forum18 documents many instances of persecution of minorities, including several articles about the ISKCON-property near Almaty, on their web site.

In order to gain recognition and trade-concessions from western countries the government of Kazakhstan likes to present itself as accommodating and liberal towards minorities, but the local administrations seem to be more influenced by communal interest groups and material greed.

In this situation it is very important, in my opinion, to maintain or better increase the public pressure we were able to generate, to continue to keep the local administration of Almaty in check, and finally arrive at a permanent solution for The Palace of the Soul.

In this article you'll find the latest updates from HH BB Govinda Maharaja and ISKCON Communications Director Anuttama das, suggestions how to support the campaign, reports of activities by Hungarian and Malaysian devotees, and a whole resource-kit with sample-letters and post- and email-addresses of Kazakh authorities.

Dear Devotees,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.,

We have already informed you of the difficult situation with the farm community of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in Kazakhstan. The government is endeavouring to evict the devotees from the land lawfully purchased in 1999, as well as their houses and ashramas which accomodate more than 60 devotees.

This persecution started in October 2004 but now the situation reached its critical point.

Yesterday, April 24, 2006 at 10 p.m. the legal executive (court officer) delivered a notification to the members of the community that today, on April 25, at 11 a.m. their ashramas and cottages will be demolished according to the decision of the court.

We ask you to help us in this difficult situation to stop the execution of the unlawful decision of the court regarding the demolition of the ashramas and eviction of the devotees from their homes.

Under the direction of HH BB Govinda Maharaja, GBC for central Asia, the Volga region of Russia, countries of the Middle East and Mauritius, ISKCON is developing a multi-dimensional cultural center on a 50-hectar farm, 40 km from the center of Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan.

This is the only ISKCON farm community in the whole CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States, ex-USSR, more or less), and since the project began in 1999, it has already become a home for more than 120 members from Kazakhstan, Central Asia, and Russia.

Since 2004 there have been many attempts from the government of Kazakhstan, which has repeatedly been criticised for it's treatment of religious minorities by international human-rights organisations, to evict ISKCON from this property – without paying compensation, of course.