Is a decision on Hindu commune destiny already exist?!

On December 16, 2006 the leaders of RO Society for Krishna Consciousness accidentally learned that the RK Foreign Ministry already started distributing through its channels a decision of the Commission on situation around Hindu commune in Karasai region. The Commission decision is signed by the chairman of the Commission Amanbek Muhashov but is not dated.

However RO SKC, as a member of the Commission, did not take part in making any decision as well as independent observers, it was not even informed of the existence of a decision.

Let us remind you that the Commission for investigating the land issue of RO Society for Krishna Consciousness in the Karasai district, Almaty province, was established by the Religious Commettee of the RK Ministry of Justice on September 7, 2006. On that day the first meeting of the Commission took place. Govinda Swami, the Society for Krishna Consciousness Central Asia director, was invited to the meeting as a member of the Commission.

At the instance of RO SKC Evgeniy Zhovtis, the head of Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Law Observance, Ninel Fokina, the director of Almaty Helsinki Committee (International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights), and an OSCE spokesman were also invited to the meeting.

The Commission held several meetings. A few of them took place in the Karasai district, on the territory of the RO SKC's community. After the last meeting which was held in the building of the Karasai district Hakimat on October 2, 2006, no information from the Religious Affairs Department or the Commission's chairman A. Mukhashov has been received by RO SKC.

When asked by journalists of the results of the Commision's work, the Department's officers said that the work had not been finalized and the results would be made public in December.

After the demolition of 13 houses in the Hindu community, carried out by the authorities of the Karasai district on November 21, 2006, Mr. Mukhashov said to journalists that he knew nothing about the demolition.

Considering that governmental bodies of RK currently distribute a decision of the Commission for investigating the issue of RO SKC, while RO SKC's members never took part in making this decision and were never informed of it, serious doubts about the objectiveness of the Commission and the lawfulness of its activities arise.

Below is the text of the decision.

 

 

DECISION
of the Commission for investigation of the land issue of the Religious Organization "Society for Krishna Consciousness"
in the Karasai district of Almaty province

Having studied the current situation connected with land disputes of the Religious Organization (hereinafter - RO) "Society for Krishna Consciousness" in the Karasai district of the Almaty province and having listened to members of the producers' cooperative (hereinafter
- PC) "Horticultural Association Ptitsevod," PC "Horticultural Association Priozerye," members of RO "Society for Krishna Consciousness" as well as representatives of the Karasai District Hakimat, territorial bodies of land resources management of Almaty province and Mr. B.B. Govinda Swami, the coordinator of RO "Society for Krishna Consciousness" in Central Asia, the Commission decided:

1. To recommend the Hakim of the Karasai district:

1) To solve disputable points on the usage of land plots and summer cottages on the territory of the Eltai rural district in accordance with the procedures established by the legislation of RK

2) To take measures to exclude defects in the future work for the privatization of land plots in the Eltai rural district and the control over abidance by the requirements of land legislation and architectural and town-planning legislation of RK

3) To continue the previously suspended privatization of cottages and horticultural plots of land taking into account the requirements of land legislation and architectural and town-planning legislation of RK;

2. To recommend the management of RO "Society of Krishna Consciousness":

1) To appeal to the local executive authorities of the Karasai district in accordance with the procedures established by legislation for allotment of a land plot to construct a place of worship

2) To carry out public worship, religious rites and ceremonies according to the requirements of the Law of RK "On the Freedom of Faith and Religious Associations.

3) To present the problems of cooperation with the local authorities objectively while appealing  to governmental bodies, international organizations and mass media

3. To recommend the members of RO "Society for Krishna Consciousness" and PC "Horticultural Association Priozerye" that any disputable issues on the usage of land plots and cottages on the territory of the Eltai rural district of the Karasai district should be resolved in the order established by the legislation of RK.

4. To recommend that the Department of Justice of Almaty province and the Committee for Connections with Religious Organizations of the Almaty Provincial Hakimat should take into consideration the current situation and continuously control the observance of the law on the freedom of faith and religious associations by local bodies, religious associations, and other legal and physical entities in the Karasai district.

Chairman of the Commission          /signed/          A. Mukhashov

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