“It turns out that Kyrgyz ombudsman chooses to stand up and preach only on specific occasions that are of a special interest for him personally. (…) Bakir uulu has mainly been active in voicing his dissatisfaction with oppressing religion in the country and, occasionally, in visiting state prisons in order to “inspect the situation with penitentiary system in the country”.

That is possible yes. Politika yest politika.

Yet perhaps we can also look at it from another angle. That, from his personal background as a believer, he found a niche: indeed standing up for the rights of Muslims and Islam in the country. Let’s admit that it definitely takes a lot of courage to do that these days.

Two assessments: 1) those who have their rights most trampled on in the country today are the Muslims; 2) several other categories of wronged already enjoy other protection channels.

I mean, lets’ face it: if, say, one or another dodgy Western businessman, grant-grabbing gaylesb activist or Christian missionnary is being harrassed, Western embassies and the whole pc do-gooders community in Bishkek jump on the case. When Muslims – who represent a far more substantial part of the population – are being harrassed on fabricated charges, humiliated, taking their bread out of the mouth, even assassinated (cf. Imam Kamalludin), then I will not pretend that everything is dead-silent from the same side, but reactions are generally a bit less, shall I say, ‘enthusiastic’.

IMHO, it is also time for the Kyrgyz people – and do I mean the ethnic Kyrgyz majority of Kyrgyzstan – to make a choice: a) will you come forward as Muslims; or b) will you remain neither fish nor fowl and be tossed around/be the dogsbody of/try to imitate the powers (the Kremlin, China, the West) and the karimovites? In the case of b), so be it, but then keep in mind that those who use you will *never* thank and respect you for it (on the contrary).