DUSHANBE, May 26, 2013, Asia-Plus – Tajik authorities have confirmed that Tajik nationals have been found recently fighting on the side of the Islamist rebels in Syria’s ongoing civil war.
According to Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, in a report released at the conference entitled “National Mentality and Secular State: Problems of Culture and Religious Education” in Dushanbe, Emom Melikov, a spokesman for the State Committee for National Security (SCNS), revealed on May 23 that three Tajik fighting on the side of Islamist rebels in Syria were killed recently.
Radio Liberty reports officials in neighboring Kyrgyzstan said on May 24 that two Kyrgyz men who were fighting with Islamist rebels were brought back from Syria by Kyrgyz security officers this week. Kyrgyzstan”s State Committee for National Security says the leadership of the Spiritual Directorate of Kyrgyz Muslims has been asked to focus on prevention of radical Islam propaganda among youth.
Kyrgyz media reports say there are many Kyrgyz nationals in Syria fighting on the side of Islamist antigovernment forces.
According to international media sources, at least 80,000 people estimated to have been killed in the past two years of the Syrian conflict.
Meanwhile, Melikov noted at the conference in Dushanbe that eleven Tajik youths have been killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent years. At the beginning of this year, wives of nine killed Tajiks were returned home, he added.
Organized by the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, the conference reportedly also discussed issues related to young Tajiks studying at religious schools abroad.
Emom Melikov, in particular, noted on May 23 that the Tajik authorities have managed in recent years to bring back some 2,000 Tajik youths from Islamic schools abroad. Today, some 1,000 Tajik youths are continuing to study at unofficial religious schools abroad, Melikov said.
