Uprootedness in Ferghana Valley: The Tragic Consequence of Ethnic Diversity and State Policies

Abstract

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While the phenomenon of up rootedness has become a dominant feature in world’s political economy, the region presently comprising the post-Soviet Central Asia has also been affected by mass displacements. The ancient societies-turned-young-nation states resemble a mosaic of ethnically diverse groups, living together for centuries. Particularly in the historical Ferghana Valley various ethnic groups have formed a delicate balance which whenever disturbed by natural, environmental or socio-political factors, has led to massive and often tragic human displacement. Unfortunately, despite the initial euphoria about the newly independent, resource rich Central Asia, not much interest could be generated regarding its socio-political and humanitarian issues while the region descended into the backyard of international politics during the last decade. Nevertheless, the significance of the region and the massive displacements therein can never be under-estimated.
This paper focuses on two causative factors of up rootedness in and around the famous Ferghana Valley geographically bordered by three Central Asian states viz. Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. It mainly focuses on displacements forced by the consequences of ethnic heterogeneity, with special reference to the role of the regional states in this context. For this purpose, the paper is organized into five main sections: the first provides literature survey highlighting the major works on uprooted populations in the region; second furnishes a historical background of displacements in Central Asia; the third section presents a mapping of up rootedness in the three states bordering Ferghana Valley; the fourth tends to identify a conceptual framework that helps understand and analyze the displacement situation in the region; while the fifth section traces the roots of up rootedness in the region following the above mentioned framework. The concluding part analyses the findings of this research and derive some lessons for the neighboring countries such as Pakistan who are also facing grave refugee issues.
The methods applied for this research are qualitative and analytical. Primary data comprises of UNHCR, World Bank and Human Rights reports and online interviews with relevant persons in Central Asia and Pakistan.