Local residents and authorities in Central Asia actively...

Local residents and authorities in Central Asia actively resist attempts by Protestant preachers to convert traditionally Muslim population to Christianity, the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta claimed.
The paper catalogued incidents of persecution against members of the Protestant community in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It is, however, noted that open hostility is displayed only towards Muslims who convert to Christianity while Christians of Slav extraction enjoy relative tolerance.
"On 29 December 2000, inhabitants of the Uzbek village of Kuruk-Kul, which is located in Dzhalal-Abad Region in southern Kyrgyzstan, attempted to try according to Shari'ah law their fellow villagers that had espoused Christianity. A crowd of several thousand persons demanded that the apostates be executed. Only by a police officer that had arrived there deceptively were the Christians saved," the paper reported.