By empty (2/2/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Speaking at a press conference in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria Republic Interior Minister Yury Tomchak said that \"wahhabism is not a crime, it\'s a religious tendency,\" according to \"Gazeta yuga\" as reposted on February 1 on kavkazweb.net. In a clear reference to the indiscriminate reprisals against young Muslims carried out by his predecessor, Lieutenant General Khachim Shogenov, Tomchak said that his ministry\'s efforts to apprehend Islamic militants out to \"overthrow the existing system\" should not be seen as a struggle with a specific religious tendency, but as an attempt to redress \"the damage inflicted by our colleagues.The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst brings cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.