DUSHANBE, July 15, 2014, Asia-Plus – Senior representatives of power-wielding structures of Tajikistan’s Sughd province and Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region met in the Tajik northern city of Isfara yesterday to discuss cooperation in providing peace and stability in border areas of the two countries.
An official source at the Isfara mayor’s office says the sides reached an agreement not to use weapons in case of conflict situation or an unforeseen contingency.
The source further added that the situation along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border remained stable.
We will recall that one Tajik national was killed and at least seven other Tajik nationals were wounded on July 10 as Kyrgyz border guards opened fire on local citizens in Tajikistan’s Vorukh exclave inside Kyrgyzstan.
Both sides blamed each other for starting an incident on July 10 in which one Tajik national was killed and seven others, including two border guards, were injured.
The Kyrgyz side later claimed that Tajik border guards fired mortars and a grenade launcher toward Kyrgyz territory after the incident. Kyrgyz authorities say one Kyrgyz border guard was injured and hospitalized.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have been locked in a tense border disputed for months around Vorukh, which is part of Tajikistan, but due to past redrawing of borders, it exists as an exclave some 20 kilometers inside Kyrgyzstan.
