Kazakhstan is not ready to counter terrorism: expert

Kazakhstan is not ready to counter social extremism, Tengrinews.kz reports citing former deputy Defense Minister Amirbek Togussov as saying at the meeting of the Club of the Institute of Political Solutions (CIPS) called Preparedness of the country and society for extremism challenges in Almaty. “It is hard to route out social extremism. Government cannot counter it alone,” Togussov said. “To some extent Kazakhstan is not ready for religious extremism as well. If a person goes to a mosque, prays and wears certain clothes, it doesn't mean that he's an extremist. We have to understand this.” Former deputy Minister also criticized special operations on elimination of terrorists in Aktobe oblast, Atyrau and Almaty. He thinks that management of these operations was unsatisfactory. General secretary of Azat party Amirzhan Kossanov reminded of the recent terrorist attacks in Norway. “Anders Breivik proved that Islam is not the only source of extremism,” he said at the meeting.