While the country’s Religious Affairs Committee claims to have obtained positive results, international organizations denounce violations towards radical Islam, but also towards minorities such as the Ismailis, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Bahai.
Dushanbe () – A meeting was held in Dushanbe between representatives of various religions to discuss respect in Tajikistan for the right of citizens to freedom of religious confession. The head of the country’s Religious Affairs Committee, Sulaymon Davlatzoda, participated in the meeting and stated that “in recent years we have achieved many positive results in the field of religious freedom, and now we have great experience in coexistence between followers.” of different communities and religious movements.
In fact, Tajikistan is frequently criticized by international organizations, including the Religious Freedom Commission of the United States Congress, for its numerous failures to comply with these rights and, especially, for its violations of the rights of Muslims, the majority religion of the country, and its persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Davlatzoda challenged the audience to “remember any examples of discrimination based on one’s religious beliefs,” referring to cases of forced beard trimming or bans on wearing religious clothing and attributes in state offices as “mere personal beliefs,” since These are not legal obligations, but rather “each office has its own internal rules, for which we are not responsible.”
These statements sound quite hypocritical, taking into account the law signed in June by President Emomali Rakhmon “On the order of festivals and rituals”, which among other things establishes the prohibition of “introducing, selling and wearing in public places the clothing of cultural foreign nationals. The law does not clarify exactly what is meant by “clothing that contradicts national culture”, but all commentators agree that these expressions refer to Muslim fashion, with the prohibition of the hijab or satr, and the long-established practice of forcing to wear a shorter beard in various ways.
The Norwegian non-governmental organization Forum-18 had reported in January on a series of violations of the religious rights of Ismailis in the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakhsan. The authors of the report pointed out how, after the massive protests by the inhabitants of the area in 2022, the authorities continued to pressure this same religious community, to which the majority of the ethnic minority in the Pamir region belongs. Continuous searches and seizures of religious objects linked to the Aga Khan have been carried out, and collective namaz gatherings have been banned even in private homes.
Two Ismaili centers remain formally open in Dušanbe and Khorug (capital of Gorno-Badakhsan), where, however, it is prohibited to organize educational and cultural meetings, only allowing the celebration of namaz under strict control. However, the head of the Ismaili community in the capital of Tajikistan, Makhrambek Makhrambekov, declared at the religious forum that “the creation and activities of an Ismaili community of Shia tendency in Dushanbe are the result of intense work for the recognition of constitutional guarantees and the achievement of independence in the religious sphere.
Mekhranzes Mamadova, a follower of the Tajik community of the Bahá’í faith, stated that, although the state does not formally put obstacles in their way, Bahá’ís remain quite intimidated and perplexed by the behavior of the country’s central and regional authorities, perceiving a strong prejudice against them even on the part of a large part of the population. Bahaism professes the unity of the sources of all religions and the universal unity of humanity, a movement born a century and a half ago in Iran thanks to its founder Mirzo Hussein Ali Nuri, called Bakha-ulla, and which today brings together more than five million followers in 188 countries around the world, while in Tajikistan its followers number about a thousand and are part of religious minorities, such as Orthodox Christians and those of other traditions, including a few Catholics and Protestants.
Add Comment