"The situation in the republic during the last three years has not ever been witnessed here all along three decades," Albugashuv

By Damir Ahmed, IOL Correspondent

MOSCOW, July 8 (IslamOnline.net) – The mufti of Ingushetia has declared his resignation to protest against the Russian military practices, including unjustified detentions of Muslim youth, in the Northern Caucasus region.

Mohamed Albugashuv also called on the Ingushetian President Murat Dzaskhov to quit for his involvement in these acts and his government’s failure to bring security and stability during his term in office.

Albugashuv said he would leave his post during a periodical meeting with imams of mosques and heads of Islamic centers in Ingushetia, the Russian TV network NTV Channel said.

"I refuse to be a mufti while Dzaskhov maintains his policy, which divided the Ingushetian Muslims into two parties pitting each other," the Muslim scholar was quoted by the station as saying.

Albugashuv said Russian special forces units had detained dozens of youths simply for entering mosques for prayers or putting on beards.

"The fate of those detainees is still unknown," the resigning mufti said, noting that many Ingushetian families fled to other provinces "seeking peace and safety, which they didn't find in their homeland".

"I want to wash my hands of all of corruption and economic crises running rife in the republic."

"The situation in the republic during the last three years has not ever been witnessed here all along three decades."

Dzaskhov was elected to power in 2002. He had worked as the director of federal security office in the Russian province of Astrakhan .

In 1992, Ingushetia was separated from the breakaway Chechnya , which was later invaded by Russian forces.

So Difficult

Albugashuv has called upon the political leaders of Ingushetia under Dzaskhov to resign and make an apology to all citizens of the republic for events that occurred during the last few years.

"The current situation in Ingushetia has become so difficult. Each day, kidnapping operations by unknown criminals are on the rise. Corruption and bribery have increased," the former mufti said in a statement obtained by IslamOnline.net.

"The bloody attacks of June 21 have exposed the governmental authorities. We have been informed that the federal government fails to provide security and peace," the statement added.

Chechen fighters have launched a series of attacks on governmental premises, police stations and border checkpoints along the republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan , leaving more than 90 people dead and 93 others injured.

Resignation Calls

According to procedures required by the Russian Law, Albugashuv will travel to Moscow to tender his resignation to the Russian Council of Muftis.

The NTV said many participants at the periodical meeting were taken by his decision, but they supported the call on the Ingushetian president to resign.

"Prominent figures of the government have not resigned following such bloody events, despite the crimes they perpetrated against civilians. They have not even looked into the reasons behind such crimes," the Muslim scholar said in the statement.

Earlier, Ingushetia witnessed a series of kidnapping operations by unknown armed militias that several parties underlined they are Russians. Among the kidnapped is the deputy general prosecutor who attempted to investigate the abductions.

Albugashuv was born in 1957 in Kazakhstan , one of the former Soviet Union republics. He studied Shari'ah in a Saudi university, and became the mufti of Ingushetia in 1997 and was re-elected in 2001.