DUSHANBE, July 15, 2013, Asia-Plus — The Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA) under the Government of Tajikistan on July 14 dismissed sarkhatib (incumbent) of the central mosque in the Vose district, Khatlon province.
Sarkhatib Ubaydullo Hasanov says he was dismissed for asking the president to allot a plot of land for construction of new mosque in Vose.
“We have the mosque placed in a private building, but it does not meet any norms,” said Hasanov. “Moreover, it is located 1.5 kilometers of the district administrative center. Therefore, during president’s meeting with clerics that took place in Dushanbe on July 4, I asked the president to allot the plot of land to us for construction of the central mosque. We have 5,000 parishioners but we are still praying in the private building but not in mosque. There are other mosques in Vose but they are very far from the administrative center, where the bulk of the Vose population lives.”
According to him, the president ordered the district head to allot the plot of land and assist with the construction of the mosque.
However, the Vose department on religious affairs gathered together all the district imam-khatibs (leaders of congregational prayer in mosque) on July 14 and they reportedly made a decision on dismissing him. “They justified their decision by saying that there is a mosque in the administrative center and I allegedly misinformed the president,” Ubaydullo Hasanov said.
