DUSHANBE, June 17, 2013, Asia-Plus — Tajik journalist Safvat Burhonov has stopped an unlimited hunger strike.
According to a statement released by Burhonov, he stopped the hunger strike on June 17. The journalist says he has stopped the hunger strike following requests and recommendations of his relatives and friends and recognizing that the situation may be used by certain interested circles.
“I got evidence that there is an opportunity of expressing opinion in our society. I understood that if a person does not pursue his own interests but just persists in his opinion, he will not undergo persecution,” Burhonov notes in his statement released on June 17.
He further says that he got added evidence that “practically all international organizations active in Tajikistan pursue their own interests and do not prosperity of my Homeland.” “Their only goal is to blacken and blackmail Tajikistan and use our society in their own interests,” the journalist noted.
We will recall that Safvat Burhonov went on the unlimited hunger strike on June 6. In a statement posted on the social network Facebook, Burhonov said on June 7 that he has gone on hunger strike to protest against what is going on in the political and economic spheres of the country.
Mr. Burhonov, in particular, noted that corruption has affected practically all government institutions and “international organizations active in Tajikistan forgot about their functions and also turned into corrupt structures.”
The journalist demanded full replacement of heads of the economic bloc ministries, bringing the country out of isolation resulted from unsuccessful foreign policy, and conducting urgent military reforms.
He also demanded replacement of heads of the agrarian sector, development of new agricultural and irrigation programs, improvement of state policy regarding intellectual property, etc.
Safvat Burhonov is a freelance journalist, who had previously worked with independent newspapers such as
Neroui Sukhan
and
SSSR
. He is founder the public association “Salom”, which is aimed at promoting improvement of relations between Dushanbe and Tashkent.
