DUSHANBE, May 13, Asia-Plus — The Tajik Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is currently negotiating with Uzbek authorities the release of six Tajik school students, detained by Uzbek border guards on April 27 for illegally crossing the border, Asia-Plus has learned at press service of the border directorate within the State Committee for National Security (GKNB).
The source at the border directorate said that 31 school students from the Tajik northern town of Adrasmon decided to organize a picnic on April 27 and inadvertently crossed over into Uzbekistan, where they were detained by Uzbek border guards for illegally crossing the border. After short questioning, 25 school students were released, while six 11th grade students are still being held by Uzbek special services.
He further added that they do not have any information “about illegal treatment by Uzbek special services of the detained school students.”
In the meantime, at end of last week, parents of the detained school students released an open letter to Uzbek President Islam Karimov, asking for help in releasing their children. The letter, in particular, said that officers from the Uzbek special services allegedly accused their children of being involved in drug trafficking and espionage.
Local experts say that so far boundaries between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have not been delineated and there are no any special engineering and technical installations on the border, which would demarcate the border. In other words, Tajik civilians living along the country’s mountainous, rural border, could never be sure whether they were in Tajik territory or had inadvertently crossed over into Uzbekistan.
