DUSHANBE, October 10, 2009, Asia-Plus — His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, arrived in Tajikistan Friday evening for a three-day visit.
Davlat Nazriyev, the head of the MFA information department, told Asia-Plus that today, His Highness the Aga Khan would visit Khorog. On October 11, the Aga Khan will take part at a ceremony of inauguration of The Ismaili Center in Dushanbe.
His Highness the Aga Khan is also scheduled to hold talks with President Emomali Rahmon and a number of other high-ranking Tajik state officials to discuss cooperation between the Government of Tajikistan and the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).
The visit of His Highness the Aga Khan to Tajikistan will conclude on October 12
We will recall that the groundbreaking ceremony for construction of the Ismaili Center in Dushanbe was held on August 30, 2003. The foundation stone of The Ismaili Center, Dushanbe was laid by President Emomali Rahmon.
Calling it “a place where people will come together to share their creativity and their wisdom,” the Aga Khan said the Center would “recognize and promote the plurality of traditions and forms of expression to which Central Asia has been a welcoming home and eminent crossroads over the centuries.” The Aga Khan expressed the hope that the Center would “play a role in reminding the world of a fact, alas, too often ignored or misunderstood: that Central Asian traditions of spirituality and learning have had a lasting and positive impact on civilizations far beyond their own.” The Center, the Aga Khan said, would be “a place for contemplation, upliftment and the search for spiritual enlightenment.”
