Caharkala/Agency Caucasus – "I am using Islam as an instrument in the fight against crimes," responded Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-guided President of Chechnya, when he heard from Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the criticism that his country was gradually switching to a style of administeration by strict Islamic laws.
After Kadyrov met with Hammarberg on Monday, he held a press conference. He was asked to comment on the wearing of headscarves in public offices. Before he gave a full response, he established a direct link between headscarf and crime:
"The Chechens have been treating women in a particular way for ages now. And if women become unethical, men become much too free and easy. I saw the prison in Chernokozova. Over half of the prisoners there are convicted of a crime for reasons that relate to a woman in particular or women in general. Some murdered their sisters, some their wives, because of something unethical that they have done. We are making concerted efforts to prevent similar things from leading up to such crimes. I proclaimed the need to revive the Chechen national tradition, which is based in Islam. I haven’t done this, however, to bring Chechnya under a strict Islamic rule. It was solely meant to discourage people from committing crimes. Islam is a religion of peace and benefaction. Whoever follows Islam will stay away from crimes, leading to the enlightenment of society. Most of the crimes that have hit the country stem from the oblivion of the national tradition."
"I am and feel proud of being Muslim. Neither I drink nor I smoke. I follow all commends dictated by Islam. And I call on everyone to do the same, because Islam is the most peaceful religion," Kadyrov said with a discrete emphasis on the need for women to get dressed in a simple but serene way when they are in workplaces and educational institutions.
Kadyrov also said that even his father, Ahmad Kadyrov had been against any forms of a strict Islamic rule. Ahmad Kadyrov was promoted to the leadership of the pro-Russian administration during the second phase of the war when he as a mufti allied with the Russian forces.
"My father objected to a switch to a strict Islamic administration and warned that it was much too serious a subject to be played up with at a time when the mass voice of demand across the country for the strict Islamic rule was strong and the central federal administration tried to supply assistance through Boris Berezovski to Aslan Mashadov." RE/RİA/ÖZ/FT
