WUNRN
Russia's
Chechnya Imposes Islamic Dress Code
11
Sep 2007
Reuters
GROZNY,
Russia, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Female civil servants must wear Islamic headscarves
or be fired, the maverick head of Russia's Chechnya region said on Tuesday, an
edict that may put him at odds with his secular masters in Moscow.
The
Kremlin installed 30-year-old Ramzan Kadyrov as Chechnya's president to crush a
decade-old separatist insurgency, but some observers say he has turned the
region into a private fiefdom where Russian laws are flouted.
Russian
law separates the state from religion and gives both sexes equal rights. But
Kadyrov, who this year made a pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites in
ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia, said Chechnya had different traditions.
"I
know everyone will say, 'Ramzan declares (rigid Islamic) sharia law'. But I
reply that I am a Muslim, I respect Chechen traditions, and I am proud of
this," Kadyrov, son of a Muslim cleric, told a meeting of local officials.
"I
repeat once again -- women must either wear headscarves, or they should not
work (for state institutions)," he said. "You may say I make unlawful
statements, but I will not back down."
Kadyrov
said he had been "literally shocked seeing our young women walking around
in T-shirts and miniskirts in our city (Chechen capital Grozny)".
A
keen amateur boxer who kept a lion as a pet, Kadyrov said women were the root
of all crime committed in Chechnya because they were inviting men to have sex
with them.
Families
often declare blood feuds on men they believed have dishonoured their
daughters, and in some cases they also kill their daughter for bringing shame
on the family. "This only complicates the work of the police,"
Kadyrov said.
Kadyrov's
hardline policies and the cult of personality he has built around himself make
many Russian officials uneasy, but they are unlikely to take any action against
him.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin came to office seven years ago pledging to defeat
Chechen separatists and he personally awarded Kadyrov Russia's highest honour
for his work in stamping out the insurgency.
Analysts
say that for Putin, who is to step down next year, turning on his protege
Kadyrov over his unorthodox policies would mean losing face.
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