DUSHANBE, June 30, 2008, Asia-Plus — Muhiddin Kabiri, the leader of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), met with a group of Tajik labor migrants working in Russia in head office of the Russian public organization, Sobraniye (Assembly), in Moscow at the end of last week.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Mr. Kabiri said that that meeting had not been planned. “I was in Moscow just to attend an international conference; however many our fellow-countrymen came to hotel at which I stayed to meet with me,” said Kabiri, “Therefore, I had to organize a meeting with them on June 25.”
According to him, more than 60 persons, mainly members and supporters of the IRPT, who are currently working in different regions of Russia, attended the meeting.
“During the meeting, we came to an agreement to organize a weeklong trip to a number of Russian regions in August in order to hold meetings with our fellow-countrymen working there to discuss problems facing them,” the IRPT leader said, noting that he will coordinate that trip with the Tajik Embassy in Moscow and expressed hope that the Tajik diplomatic mission will support that initiative.
The IRPT was officially registered on December 4, 1991. The party was banned by the Supreme Court in June 1993 and legalized in August 1999. The official newspaper of the party is Najot.
The Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan is the only Islamic party registered in Central Asia.
The IRPT won two seats in the 2000 parliamentary elections. Muhammadsharif Himmatzoda and Nasriddin Saidov were elected to the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) on the party slate. In 2005, the party also won two seats in the lower house of the parliament. Muhammadsharif Himmatzoda and Muhiddin Kabiri were elected to the Majlisi Namoyandagon on the party slate.
The party now has 25,000 officially registered members; however, according to the IRPT board, the number of the party supporters and those wanting to join it is some 50,000 people.
