DUSHANBE, January 29 2013, Asia-Plus — Fostering the spirit of understanding and tolerance in Tajik youth was a major topic of a roundtable formally entitled “Islam, Tolerance and Youth” that took place in Dushanbe on January 29.
Organized by the Asia-Plus News Agency and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)’s Office in Dushanbe, the meeting brought together researchers, experts as well as representatives of government bodies (the Committee on Religious Affairs, the Committee for Youth, Sports and Tourism Affairs, the Islamic Institute, etc), public associations and media to seek solution to the assigned task – how to strengthen tolerance in Tajik youth and prevent all those factors generated by intolerance.
Speaking at the meeting, Umed Babakhanov, Director General of the Asia-Plus Media Holding, noted that tolerance was the main guarantee of peace and stability in Tajikistan.
“The majority of Muslims in Tajikistan adhere to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam, which is considered to be a tolerant madhab. However, findings of some surveys have shown that Tajik youth are not quite tolerant to other madhabs and religions,” Babakhanov stressed. According to him, ignorance could be one of the main reasons for intolerance.
Mavlon Mukhtorov, the deputy head of the Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA), noted that tolerance has noticeably slackened in Central Asia in recent years. He added that the country’s Constitution and other laws supported tolerance in Tajikistan, and therefore, “there are followers of different religions in the country and approximately there are no any difficulties between them.”
The roundtable was conducted in the framework of the project, Tolerant Tajikistan, which is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the project, Media as Instrument of Stability and Development of Democratic Governance in Tajikistan, which funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.
