ABSTRACT
The Soviet authorities were not able to accuse the Badakhshani religious leaders of being Islamic fundamentalists (as they did in the other parts of Tajikistan with Sunni leaders) as there was no forcing of women to wear the veil or preventing of girls from attending Soviet schools or other similar elements within the Ismaili community of Badakhshan. On the contrary, they promoted the establishment of a more secular society. The Aga Khan’s attitude at that time was in many ways in accord with the Soviet agenda. This was the case not only in terms of equal rights for women or access to education for all people, but even in terms of the critique of the traditional leadership. The pīrs were criticized for the first time by the Imam’s envoy Sabz ‘Alī. Hence, the traditional leadership was evaluated negatively not only by the Soviets, but by the Aga Khan’s envoy as well. To this end, the best way to remove them from power was to call them ‘spies’ of British imperialism. By stamping this label on them, for the sake of political necessity, nearly all the early Soviet scholars referred to them as British spies, although local Badakhshani leaders did not have a good knowledge of British policy. Nevertheless, by the middle of the twentieth century, it was commonly believed by the Soviet scholars that Ismaili leaders were working on behalf of British imperialism.
