Members of Makhachkala antiterrorist commission criticise the work of militia

Today, the Mayoralty of Makhachkala hosted a regular sitting of the city's antiterrorist commission, which brought together activists, workers of power agencies, intellectuals, mass media and leaders of official confessions. In the course of the sitting, the participants criticised the work of militia.

Said Amirov, Mayor of the capital of Dagestan, acted as the moderator of the event. He said in his opening word that terrorists are at war against all the nations of Dagestan; and now the future of the republic is already in danger.

In the opinion of the Mayor, the top managers of Dagestan's MIA have failed to perceive the degree of the threat that emanates from terrorists; and this resulted in murder of Minister of Interior Adilgerei Magomedtagirov. Mr Amirov raised a number of issues that should be promptly addressed.

He asked why all the militants are liquidated in special operations, not captured with the aim to obtain the required information, and why secret agents work so poorly. The Makhachkala Mayor has noted that it is necessary to understand, from where militants are getting secret data and arms, which should be only at special agencies.

Said Amirov has also stated that law enforcers have poor contacts with municipal authorities, and district militiamen are often involved in other duties and attracted to various special operations.

Then, the floor was given to Rasul Gazimagomedov, head of the UVD (Interior Department) of Makhachkala. He said that district militiamen work within the bounds of the law, and the available drawbacks are caused by personnel shortage. Mr Gazimagomedov has reported that his subordinates make monthly visits to mosques together with employees of the Spiritual Department of Moslems of Dagestan, as well as shops, where Islamic literature is sold, aiming to reveal supporters and helpers of religious extremism.

The UVD head has offered a number of measures which, in his opinion, should help in fighting terrorism, in particular, a tougher control of the people who go abroad for training; notification of militia by hotel managers about all the lodgers; creation of people's self-guard and network of secret agents in every house, etc.

The following speaker - Deputy Makhachkala Mayor Ferezullah Kakhrimanov - has stated that the rampancy of crime is caused by inactivity of law enforcers: "Everybody is idling, the traffic police are idling: in the first half-year they brought 750,000 roubles, instead of planned 75 million, into the city budget."

Magomedrasul Magomedrasulov, speaker of the city assembly, has stated that the main forces of militia are sometimes distracted to other actions. As an example, the situation was given with journalists of the Dagestan weekly "Chernovik", against whom criminal cases were opened.

"We have strange bureaucrats. If we write truth about them in papers, they are sure to search customers, look behind the scene and exert pressure on journalists, instead of self-correction," said the speaker.

Mr Magomedrasulov concluded saying that quite often the militia practise illegal methods in their work: "They find some poor fellow and blame him of all deadly sins."

In summary, the participants of the sitting voted for a decision stating insufficiency of the measures taken by law enforcers and other agencies towards public order and safety of the population.