DUSHANBE, February 6, 2014, Asia-Plus – Three working groups of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that entered upon ventilation of military and border issues as well as issues related to demarcation and delimitation of mutual border and use of border roads have visited disputed segments on the Isfara stretch of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border, an official source at the Sughd regional administration told Asia-Plus today morning.
According to him, the working groups will work until February 10. The groups will submit their proposals for consideration to the next meeting of the Tajik-Kyrgyz commission for demarcation and delimitation of mutual border that will take place in the Tajik northern city of Isfara in mid-February.
The Tajik MFA says the mentioned groups have been set up for implementation of protocols that were signed by Tajik and Kyrgyz delegations in the Kyrgyz capital on January 31.
The following three working groups have been set up: 1) the group for military and border issues; 2) the group for the border demarcation and delimitation issues; and 3) the group for use of border roads.
On the Tajik side, the group for military and border issues is co-chaired by Sherali Khairulloyev, Aide to the President of Tajikistan for Security Affairs, the group for the border demarcation and delimitation issues is co-chaired by Mahmadtohir Zokirov, Chairman of the State Committee on Land Management and Geodesy, and the group for use of border roads is co-chaired by Khairullo Asoyev, Minister of Transport.
The Kyrgyz delegation is led by B. Abduraimov, an expert from the Secretariat of the Special Representative of the Government of Kyrgyzstan for Border Issues.
The working group came to a discussion of the mentioned issues in Isfara on February 5.
We will recall that Tajik Prime Minister Murodali Alimardon and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Tokon Mamytov, agreed in Bishkek on January 31 that the two countries” working groups on border delimitation must expedite their activities.
Five Kyrgyz border guards, one Kyrgyz policeman, and two Tajik border guards were hospitalized with injuries on January 11 after tensions escalated into exchanges of gunfire along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border. The clash started when Tajiks protested Kyrgyzstan’s construction of a bypass road through a disputed area. Tajikistan has requested to halt the construction of the road until the border is delimited.
