NUR SULTAN, January 19 (Asia Free Press): The state-of-emergency imposed in Kazakhstan, where massive riots have been staged, in early January expired at midnight on Wednesday, according to local media reports.
Kazakh authorities affirmed that law and order was restored to all of the country’s regions, but the anti-terrorist operations continue in several regions to further maintain the law and order situation, CGTN reported.
Kazakhstan Ministry of Health on Tuesday has confirmed the number of those killed during the recent riots to 227, besides about a thousand being injured.
In Kazakhstan, the protest broke out on January 02, when drivers in the city of Zhanaozen, in the country’s oil-rich Mangystau region, staged a protest against high fuel prices, which led to a state-of-emergency and resignation of the government.
Later, after the situation worsened, the Russian-led security alliance like the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), upon the calling of the Kazakh President, have deployed peacekeeping troops to normalize the tense situation in the Central Asian country.
Now, after the situation somehow normalized and mission accomplished, the CSTO peacekeeping troops one by one way back to their own countries. Earlier, CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas said peacekeeping forces would leave Kazakhstan within the next ten days, in what Withdrawal started on January 13.
