KULOB, September 1, 2010, Asia-Plus — A session of the coordination council of law enforcement agencies took place in Vose district, Khatlon province on August 31.
Imam-khatibs of all local mosques, senior representatives from village communities, and divisional police inspectors have been invited to attend the meeting, Muzaffar Yusufov, the deputy prosecutor of Vose district, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, the meeting discussed the implementation of the country’s law on religion and religious associations.
“94 mosques now function in the district and only 56 of them have been officially registered,” the deputy prosecutor said, noting that only two mosques have been registered with local tax inspectorate to this day.
“It is to be noted that quite a large number of parishioners at local mosques are now children aged 5 to 10, and not only during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan,” Yusufov noted.
Reacting to president’s call on parents of students attending religious schools abroad to bring their children back, the coordination council discussed this issue as well.
It turned out that 27 young people from Vose, including three girls, now study religious schools outside Tajikistan. “Thirteen of them are studying religious schools in Iran, seven others are studying religious schools in Saudi Arabia and the others are studying religious schools in Yemen,” said the deputy prosecutor, “Nobody knows how they have got there and who finances their studies.”
