DUSHANBE, May 26, 2015, Asia-Plus — The Democratic Party of Tajikistan (DPT) intends to restore its membership in the country’s presidential Public Council.
A meeting of the Public Council that is being held in Dushanbe today will consider an application by the DPT for restoring its membership in the Public Council.
DPT leader Saidjaffar Ismonov says the party lodged the application for restoration of its membership in the Public Council in February this year.
The Public Council of Tajikistan was established in April 1996 on the basis of the Public Accord Agreement signed first on March 9, 1996 for the period of three years by pro-government political parties and NGOs in a show of support for the peace process. It was prolonged for further three years in 1999.
The Public Council now comprises representatives of state bodies, political parties, religious organizations and civil society. The Public Council established the Social partnership Club, which brings together some 70 representatives of the Public Council to discuss and find consensus on pressing social issues.
The Islamic Revival (IRP) and the DPT suspended their membership in the Public Council in May 2005 in protest over undemocratic conditions in the 2005 parliamentary elections.
The Democratic Party said on May 3, 2005 that it has backed out of the president”s council because their leader was arrested and because the last elections in the country were undemocratic. The Islamic revival Party withdrew from the Public Council on May 4, 2005.
The Democratic Party of Tajikistan can trace its origins back to the last days of the Soviet Union. Registered on June 21, 1991 and banned by the Supreme Court on June 21, 1993, the Democratic Party of Tajikistan was reregistered on December 3, 1999.
At the end of 1990s, two factions laid claim to the Democratic Party of Tajikistan: the Almaty platform led by Mahmadruzi Iskandarov and the Tehran platform run by Azam Afzali. The Tehran platform later transformed itself into the Taraqqiyot (Progress) Party.
On October 5, 2005, the Supreme Court sentenced DPT leader Mahmadruzi Iskandarov to 23 years in prison. The sentence followed his conviction on charges of terrorism, the embezzlement of state funds, and the illegal storage of weapons, though his supporters say he was jailed for political motives.
The party split into two factions again and the Ministry of Justice recognized Masoud Sobirov as the legitimate leader of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan in October 2006.
Democrats in Sughd province and Gorno Badakhshan as well as some primary organizations of the party in other regions of the country did not recognize Masoud Sobirov as the party leader and they demanded convocation of the extraordinary congress of the party.
An extraordinary congress of the party took place in Dushanbe on December 23, 2012 and Saidjaffar Ismonov was elected as chairman of the party.
This year, the DPT won one seat in the 63-seat lower house (Majlis Namoyandagon) of parliament.
