DUSHANBE, December 1, 2008, Asia-Plus — A special public commission has been set up in Dushanbe to study causes of splits in the Democratic (DPT) and Socialist (SPT) parties, the leader of the Social-Democratic Party (SDPT), Rahmatillo Zoirov, who chairs the commission, announced at a press conference in Dushanbe on November 28.
According to him, the commission that was set up upon his initiative consists of 15 experts. “Among them are lawyers, political scientists and journalists,” Zoirov said, noting that the commission would start its work already in early December.
“During this month, factions of the split parties will submit all documents connected with the inner-party conflicts for considertion to the commission,” said Zoirov, “We will address eight specific questions to them and they will have to answer them.”
According to him, both wings of the SPT have already begun cooperating with the commissions, while of three factions of the DPT, only the Masoud Sobirov-run wing, which is recognized by the Ministry of Justice as the official Democratic Party, has refused to cooperate with the commission.
The Socialist Party suffered a split in June 2004, and some in that party have accused the government of causing the rift. There are two wings of the Socialist Party: the win led by Mirhusein Narziyev and the wing run by Abdughaffor Halimov. The Ministry of Justices recognized the Abdughaffor Halimov-run wing as the official Socialist Party.
The Democratic Party split after Masoud Sobirov formed a separate faction in April 2006, which the Ministry of Justice recognized as the official Democratic Party in October 2006, and at present there are three DPT factions run by Masoud Sobirov, Mahmadruzi Iskandarov and Saidjaffar Ismonov.
The party congress held by Ismonov’s supporters on January 14, 2007, charged Masoud Sobirov with inaction and removed him. They elected Ismonov as leader of the party. But the Ministry of Justice noted that the January 14 congress was held in violation of the party”s charter and Tajik law and denied a request by Saidjaffar Ismonov to be recognized as the leader of the Democratic Party.
