In official meetings and speeches in recent months, Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda has frequently warned about the dangers of the Islamic State (IS) terror group.
Now Ramazon Rahimzoda has turned to the stage in an attempt to use drama to tell the tale of how joining IS can destroy lives and tear families apart, according to Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service.
The Heart of a Mother is the story of a Tajik woman who goes to Syria in a bid to bring her IS-fighter son back home.
The play — which was purportedly written by Rahimzoda and screened on August 5 by an elite audience that included Tajikistan's state committee for national security chief and culture minister — will premiere at the Lohouti Theater in Dushanbe on August 13, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service says, noting that veteran actress Maryam Isoyeva will play the main character.
Tajik authorities say at least 1,200 people have gone to Syria and Iraq to join the extremist militant group since 2014.
IS group also claimed the deadly July 29 attack on foreign cyclists in the Danghara district, although the government says the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) was behind the assault, which resulted in the deaths of four foreign tourists.
The IRPT rejected the government's charge as "shameless and illogical," and an IS video showed five young men swearing allegiance to the militants — including four who closely resembled four men killed by Tajik authorities shortly after the attack.
The Interior Ministry is a key player in a state program to help return and rehabilitate Tajik citizens who voluntarily leave Syria and Iraq and prove they weren't involved in violence.
Despite his professional background as a veterinarian and lawyer, Rahimzoda, 58, is apparently no stranger to writing.
He has written numerous poems that were published in Tajik media in recent years using the pen name Nihoni, Tajik for "hidden."
Some of the minister's poems are dedicated to President Rahmon, while others are on random topics, such the importance of the country's key Roghun hydropower plant, or the role of horses in people's lives.
