Radio Liberty reported on July 26 that officials in Tajikistan have taken over several major properties, including a hotel, a lycee, and a city park that are linked to the influential spiritual leader Aga Khan in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).
Prosecutors this month reportedly sought to appropriate a land plot in GBAO”s capital, Khorog, where the University of Central Asia (UCA) campus funded by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is located. The land was purchased by the AKDN in the late 1990s, but officials now say the sales were illegal, according to Radio Liberty.
The AKDN is a private development agency funded by the Aga Khan, the Imam (Spiritual Leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. The overwhelming majority of GBAO’s some 250,000 people identify as Ismailis.
The Khorog Serena Inт, which was built by the AKDN in Khorog’s picturesque Tem area, was the first to be nationalized
The government reportedly went on to nationalize a recreational park in Khorog in August last year. The AKDN had reportedly invested about US$4 million in the remaking of the park between 2004 and 2005.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, sources close to the matter in Khorog told Radio Liberty said the Aga Khan Medical Center was to be targeted next. The US$25 million facility reportedly opened in 2018.
Last month, the government suspended the license of the Aga Khan Lycee that was established in Khorog in September 1998.
It will be renamed the State Lycee for Gifted Students and operate under the auspices of the Education Ministry.
Tajik authorities haven't publicly commented on the closure of the AKDN entities. There have been no official statements by the AKDN.
RFE/RL's Tajik Service contacted government officials but didn't receive a response to its queries. AKDN representatives in Khorog declined to comment.
