Several activists of the outlawed Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) who are currently hiding abroad do not pose any threat to the country, Saifullo Safarov, the first deputy director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, told reporters in Dushanbe on February 2.
According to him, such a threat existed last year. “If some IRP activists hiding abroad had united with other banned organizations such as Group 24 and Vatandor Movement, which is led by the notorious Dodojon Atovulloyev, such a threat would have existed. But activists of Group 24 and Dodojon Atovulloyev soberly assessed the situation and refused to cooperate with the IRPT,” senior expert from Tajik think tank noted.
He further stressed that no one Tajik national had joined any terrorist organization after the IRPT had been banned in the country.
“According to data and information I have, no one national of our country has joined any terrorist organization participating in armed conflicts abroad, including the Islamic State (IS) terror group, after the Islamic Revival Party was banned in Tajikistan in September 2015,” Safarov noted.
Asked about threat the could be posed to Tajikistan by IS militants who fled Syria and Iraq for Afghanistan and massed in Afghan areas bordering Tajikistan, Safarov said that they do not pose serious threat to Tajikistan.
“We have strengthened control of our border with Afghanistan enough. Moreover, Russia has strengthened our armed forces and its military base deployed in Tajikistan. Besides, in the case of real threat China will help us,” the expert noted.
Founded in October 1990, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan was the only Islamic party officially registered in former Soviet Central Asia. The IRPT was registered on December 4, 1991. It was banned by the Supreme Court in June 1993 and legalized in August 1999.
Since 1999, the party had reportedly been the second-largest party in Tajikistan after the ruling People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan.
In the 2005 and 2010 parliamentary elections, the IRPT won two out of 63 seats in the parliament, but the party suffered a crushing defeat in Tajikistan’s March 2015 vote, failing to clear the 5 percent threshold needed to win parliament seats.
Tajikistan’s Supreme Court banned the Islamic Revival Party as terrorist group on September 29, 2015 on the basis of a suit filed by the Prosecutor-General’s Office. The Supreme Court ruled that the IRPT should be included on a blacklist of extremist and terrorist organizations. The verdict forces the closure of the IRPT’s official newspaper Najot and bans the distribution of any video, audio, or printed materials related to the party’s activities.
Party leader Muhiddin Kabiri, who now is in self-imposed exile abroad, denies any wrongdoing or involvement in the violence.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan has put Muhiddin Kabiri on trial in absentia. Charges against IRPT leader include terrorism and involvement in what the government says was an armed attempt to seize power, led by mutinous former Deputy Defense Minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda, in September 2015.
