DUSHANBE, October 30, Asia-Plus — Grand muftis of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have decided to set up a joint consultative council.
Absattar khaji Derbisali, the head of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Kazakhstan, made this remark while talking to journalists in Almaty, Kazakhstan on October 29 after a meeting of grand muftis of four Central Asian states, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported.
“We decided to set up a consultative council of grand muftis of Central Asia for exchanging views on the religious issues in our region,” Kazakh grand mufti said.
In the meantime, preparations for Hajj are under way in Tajikistan. Abdusalom Rajabov, a chief specialist with hajj department of the directorate for religious affairs of the Ministry of Culture (MoC), told Asia-Plus that they have to date have received some 5,000 applications from Tajik Muslims, who want to make Hajj this year. “We will begin sending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia on December 1,” Rajabov said.
Hajjis are required to register with the directorate of religious affairs and deposit $2,580 prior to departure.
US International Religious Freedom Report 2007 released by the Bureau of Democracy, Hum Rights, and Labor said the directorate of religious affairs controlled participation in the Hajj and imposed further restrictions on the pilgrims during the period covered by this report. The Government continued to require air travel for the Hajj and controlled local tour operators, citing hygiene and safety concerns as reasons for limiting other means of travel. In 2007, the DRA apparently lifted the previous quota limit of 3,500 citizen hajjis; as a result, 4,622 citizens participated in the Hajj in early 2007, compared with 3,450 in 2006 and 4,072 in 2005,.
