ISFARA, July 26, 2016, Asia-Plus — Construction of cross-border roads, access to water and pastures as well as existence of unauthorized border crossing points (BCPs) alng the Tajik-Kyrgyz border were a major topic of a meeting of Deputy Prime Minister, Murodali Alimardon, with residents of Tajikistan’s Vorukh exclave inside Kyrgyzstan that took place on July 25.
Iqbol Teshayev, a spokesman for the Isfara Mayor’s office, says the main purpose of the visit was for a working group led by Murodali Alimardon, who is also co-chairman of the Tajik-Kyrgyz commission for delineation of common border, to study the current situation in border areas ahead of the upcoming border talks.
Chairman of the State Committee on Land Management and Geodesy Mahmadtohir Zokirov, Sughd Governor Abdurahmon Qodiri, Isfara Mayor Davron Zohidzod and some other officials accompanied Alimardon on his visit to Vorukh.
Residents of Vorukh reportedly brought the issues related to construction of roads, access to water and pastures, and construction of surgical department at the Vorukh hospital because of frequent blockage of the Isfara-Vorukh road they cannot take patients needing urgent surgery to the Isfara hospital to Alimardon’s attention.
The deputy prime minister called residents of Vorukh to calm and patience.
We will recall that one Tajik national was killed and at least seven other Tajik nationals were wounded on July 10 as Kyrgyz border guards opened fire on local citizens in Tajikistan’s Vorukh exclave inside Kyrgyzstan.
Both sides blamed each other for starting an incident on July 10 in which one Tajik national was killed and seven others, including two border guards, were injured.
The Kyrgyz side later claimed that Tajik border guards fired mortars and a grenade launcher toward Kyrgyz territory after the incident. Kyrgyz authorities say one Kyrgyz border guard was injured and hospitalized.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have been locked in a tense border disputed for months around Vorukh, which is part of Tajikistan, but due to past redrawing of borders, it exists as an exclave some 20 kilometers inside Kyrgyzstan.
