DUSHANBE, April 3, 2015, Asia-Plus – More than 200 Tajik nationals are currently in the ranks of Islamic State (IS) militants fighting in Syria, Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda announced at a seminar that took place in Dushanbe yesterday to discuss cooperation between youth and police in combating extremism.
According to him, some Tajik “jihadists” have been killed, while others still remain at command of their “selfish masters.”
“Over the last year and the first three months of this year, 144 Tajik nationals participating in armed conflicts in Syria Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been registered. Twelve of them have been arrested,” said the minister. “Criminal proceedings have been instituted against all of them and 34 people have been placed on the list of internationally wanted persons.”
According to him, the majority of Tajik nationals participating in foreign armed conflicts are ignorant young people.
Rahimzoda also expressed concern that many of those young people were taking their wives and children with them. “We have managed to prevent sending of several young women and girls to Syria and Iraq,” the minister said.
“Over the past two years, the law enforcement authorities have revealed many cases of young people’s joining extremist groups in Sughd and Khatlon provinces and in districts subordinate to the center,” Rahimzoda noted.
According to the findings of the analysis carried out by the Interior Ministry, mostly young people from Isfara, Istaravshan, Panjakent, Spitamen, Bobojonghafourov and Asht in the Sughd province, Kulob, Qobodiyon, Bokhtar and Sahritous in the Khatlon province as well as Vahdat and Sharinav (districts subordinate to the center) and the city of Dushanbe are joining extremist organizations.
We will recall that Edward Lemon, a doctoral candidate at the University of Exeter who tracks Tajik militants in Syria and Iraq, says he has found online evidence for 70 Tajik militants in Syria.
“But there are likely to be more who have traveled and whose existence has not been reported in the media. I think a figure of between 100 and 200 would be fairly accurate,” Lemon told RFE/RL last week, noting that most Tajiks in Syria and Iraq are fighting alongside IS.
Some experts note that over 1 million Tajiks are working in Russia and many young Tajiks are being radicalized and recruited in Russia.
