Pulat Bobojanov is gone. What is expected of the new minister?

After 7.5 years of service, Lieutenant General Pulat Bobojonov has left the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In his place, Major General Aziz Toshpulatov has become the new Minister of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan. There were many dissatisfactions with the system during the activities of Pulat Bobojonov, who did not conduct an open dialogue with the public. What is expected from the new minister?

On March 3, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Pulat Bobojonov, was dismissed from his post. The 64-year-old lieutenant general had been working as the Minister of Internal Affairs for 7.5 years.

He was appointed to the post of minister on September 4, 2017. On September 12, 2019, he received the special title of lieutenant general. No official information was provided about the reason for Pulat Bobojonov's resignation. According to Kun.uz sources, Bobojanov's dismissal is connected with the purges that took place in the security forces at the end of November 2024.

On the same day, Pulat Bobojanov's new position was announced. He was appointed Deputy Advisor to the President of Uzbekistan on Personnel Policy.

Major General Aziz Toshpulatov was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs to replace Bobojanov. After the candidate was approved by the deputies, a presidential decree on the appointment was signed.

Colonel Ravshan Sultankhodjaev was appointed Head of the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Tashkent City. Prior to this, he had been working as Head of the Khorezm Regional Department of Internal Affairs.

Pulat Bobojanov's activities

Perhaps due to his relative openness, criticism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and its subordinate organizations has not subsided since Bobojanov came to power. This was mainly related to human rights: several times a year, citizens who were taken to internal affairs buildings die. "15-day arrests" are still a pressing issue. Despite the public's strong objections to this, Pulat Bobojanov did not comment on the deaths of citizens in internal affairs buildings. In addition, the former minister never held an open press conference with media representatives and answered questions.

In 2022, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev also made demands on Pulat Bobojanov on human rights issues.

"Recently, painful issues of human rights violations have been raised in some places of detention," the president said, addressing the prosecutor general and the minister of internal affairs. The president demanded that they convey to every employee in his system that the law and human rights are the highest values. However, so far, they have not managed to eliminate the unpleasant situations in internal affairs buildings.

A few weeks ago, two prisoners died in prisons in the Tashkent region, and on February 24, a 50-year-old farmer who was taken to the Uzun district police department for questioning also died. Both the then-acting minister, Pulat Bobojonov, and his press service have remained silent on these cases.

A number of activists in the Ministry of Internal Affairs do not believe that the change of minister will lead to fundamental changes in the system. For example, journalist Muhrim Azamkhozhaev considered this change to be “a leftover part of the purge of November 23-24.”

“I think that the removal of Pulat Bobojonov from the post of Minister of Internal Affairs and the appointment of the head of the Tashkent city Main Department of Internal Affairs will not serve to change the system for the better. It is simply that it no longer seems appropriate for a person whose subordinates were imprisoned the day before to continue to hold the post of minister.

The old minister was overly critical (for example, every death in prisons was worth resigning over and over again). Therefore, today's resignation is not the result of the accumulated complaints overflowing the bucket of patience (after all, the flood had already begun), but rather a remnant of the purge of November 23-24. Therefore, it can be assumed that the heavy convoy of internal affairs bodies will continue its path, moving towards the bottom without any changes,” says journalist Muhrim Azamkhodzhaev.

According to human rights activist Abdurakhmon Tashanov, when Bobozhovon was dismissed for shortcomings in the system, he should have left long ago. That is why he also attributed his “departure” to the purge. Human rights activists do not expect much from Aziz Toshpulatov, the human rights activist says. Because a person in the system is a partner in both old achievements and shortcomings, of course, time will tell, he says.

Economist and blogger Otabek Bakirov wrote that if civil leaders come, the system can begin to undergo fundamental reforms. He said that he believes that there is a concept of political responsibility for gross mistakes in the field.

"I think that we also have a concept and practice of political responsibility. It's just that this is usually done with delay or without publicity.

The civil sectors have their own way. But, for example, given the fact that various murders, the increase in deaths in prisons and detention centers raise questions in society, I think that the tradition of giving political answers to these questions has not disappeared.

In any case, if we want to build a legal and humane state, the police must be reformed. Perhaps, if civilian leaders come to the system, fundamental reforms will begin. Ideally, there should be civilian management over the police and defense,” Bakirov writes.

According to Kun.uz sources who worked with Aziz Toshpulatov, the general is a simple and easy-going person. “He will be close to those who do good work, and the best thing is that he does not play a group. He is a relatively open person and will accept reasonable criticism, trying to correct the service that is being criticized,” says one of the employees who worked with Toshpulatov.

Of course, time will tell. The public expects openness from the new minister, fundamental reforms in the system, and at the same time, personal responsibility by employees to ensure that they do not infringe on the constitutional rights of citizens. Follow “Zamin” news on “Telegram”