DUSHANBE, March 5, 2011, Asia-Plus -- Losses in military personnel and materiel incurred by government forces in Rasht Valley last autumn have resulted from the wrong government personnel policy, Major-General Abdullo Habibov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

“The Rasht events have demonstrated current state of affairs in the country’s power-wielding structures.  After Interior Minister Khumdin Sharipov’s retirement, Mahmadnazar Solehov was appointed to head the Ministry of Interior.  He dismissed a large number of skilled officers because they were allegedly men of the previous minister and thereby he broke the backbone of the Ministry of Interior,” Habibov said.

According to him, the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) was in a similar situation.  “The best specialists from the SCNS were retired under the pretext of old age, but there was no an adequate replacement for them.”

According to specialists’ estimates, weak intelligence activity as well as inefficient investigation and search operations proved to be the weakest link in actions of the government forces in Rasht, Habibov said, noting that only skilled officers could carry out all those operations properly.

“On the other hand, the power-wielding structures must be fully found in order to fulfill their duties properly.  Servicemen must have decent salaries and adequate dwelling conditions.  Unfortunately, there are still many unsolved issues in this area.  Today’s number of the Interior Ministry personnel is very large, while effectiveness of their work leaves much to be desired.   But why don’t they reduce the number of staff and due to this raise salaries of the remaining personnel?”