MOSCOW – The head of Russia’s Muslim Chechnya region yesterday urged followers to “eradicate” the age-old practice of bride kidnapping, a tradition outlawed by Russian law, but still practised in the region.
Analysts say the region’s powerful leader Ramzan Kadyrov is facing increased pressure from his backers in the Kremlin to curb local traditions that violate federal laws, including what critics say are moves to introduce religious-based rules.
“I declare . . . we will root out once and for all from our society the kidnapping of young women,” Mr Kadyrov said, according to Russian state-run news website Vesti.ru. “This is the Russian Federation, where kidnapping is a crime.”
Bride kidnapping, now widely associated in Russia with Islam, was taking place in the Caucasus prior to its conversion to Islam, some 250 years ago. It is also practised in post-Soviet central Asia.
The Kremlin is heavily dependent on Mr Kadyrov to staunch an Islamist insurgency in the region, and rights activists say he is taking advantage of his position to exceed his legal authority.
Mr Kadyrov has combined support of a relatively mild version of Islam with strong-arm police tactics against extremists to control powerful Islamist sentiment.
Critics say the measures are inching the Chechen republic towards autonomy from Moscow. Mr Kadyrov says the claims are attempts to blacken his name.
Chechnya has fought two separatist wars with the Russian army since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Mr Kadyrov fought Russian forces during the first Chechen separatist war in the early 1990s but switched to Moscow’s side when the conflict reignited in 1999. His condemnation of bride kidnapping, already outlawed in Russia, demonstrates the autonomy Chechnya enjoys.
“We follow Islam, which unequivocally condemns such a practice and which does not recognise marriage without the true consent of the girl,” he was quoted as saying. In August, Chechnya’s spiritual leader ordered the shutting down of all eateries during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.
Women said they had been harassed by men for not wearing headscarves. The Ramadan orders followed praise from Mr Kadyrov who told state TV he was grateful to attackers who targeted women with paintball pellets for not wearing headscarves. – (Reuters)