DUSHANBE, September 28, 2014, Asia-Plus — Tajik President Emomali Rahmon is expected to pay a working visit to the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) in early October.
An official source at the Khorog administration says the trip will take the president to the Vanj district, the Bartang Valley in the Rushan district and the GBAO regional center Khorog.
Khorog had seen intermittent violence in recent years involving federal authorities.
We will recall that one suspected drug trafficker was killed and two others wounded by police officers on May 21 this year. Besides, two persons were killed and at least seven people were wounded on the same day after police opened fire on a crowd that tried to storm a police station. The fatalities occurred during a police offensive against suspected criminals and ensuing clashes between security forces and local residents upset with the police action.
One of the wounded suspected drug traffickers died in the hospital Friday night (May 23), sparking the march on the building of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office for GBAO in Khorog. At least one person was killed and two wounded. Witnesses reported that one of the protesters threw a grenade at the building of the SCNS’s office and some protesters opened fire on the facility.
Several dozens of protesters in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region spent two nights in tents in the center of Khorog on May 24 and 25, taking their effort to convince the government to meet their demands. The protesters were demanding an investigation into deadly clashes on May 21 and the resignations of the local governor, police chiefs, and prosecutor.
Protesters left the central square in Khorog Sunday (May 25) evening, after civil society activists and authorities agreed to investigate the May 21 deadly shooting followed by violent protests.
Khorog saw days of fighting in 2012 between government troops and rebels after President Emomali Rahmon vowed to punish local warlords for the killing of a security service general.
