BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The number of supporters for the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir organization in Kyrgyzstan is on the decline as the group's ideology falls out of favor, officials said.
Azamat Kutamanliyev, the Kyrgyz interior minister, said the number of supporters for Hizb ut-Tahrir dropped from 1,700 to 1,468 recently, the Interfax news agency reports.
"The party's supporters are leaving," he said.
Kadyr Malikov, an Islamic studies expert at Madrid University, said the membership of the group is on the decline because their ideology is losing its appeal.
Hizb ut-Tahrir emerged in the 1950s as a Sunni group advocating strict Islamic law.
Kanibek Osmonaliyev, who heads the Kyrgyz government's commission on religion, told the BBC that the post-Soviet policy led to a rise in the number of religious sects trying to convert Kyrgyz nationals.
"People asked us to take measures because they were worried their families would be broken up by these groups," he said.
He said the government still welcomed religious diversity in the country but warned there was no room for extremists.
"People are drawn to prayer, to a Protestant God, an Orthodox God, or Islamic God, but not Hizb ut-Tahrir," he said.
