Staunton, January 31 – Shodi Shabdonolov,
the head of the Communist Party of Tajikistan, says that followers of the Salafi
trend of radical Islam have been trying to join his organization in the hopes
of using it as a Trojan horse to advance their own interests against Dushanbe.
In an interview with the Tajik
Service of Radio Liberty, Shabdolov said that his party does not prevent Muslim
believers from joining but will not admit anyone known to be a follower of a
radical trend, especially one that has been illegal in his country since 2009 (rus.ozodi.org/content/article/26821684.html).
The communist leader said that
Salafis had many times attempted to join his organization’s ranks but that they
had always been met with suspicion and not admitted. He said that he and his
comrades want to do what they can to prevent the Salafis from acquiring yet
another platform for disseminating their radical views.
Radio Liberty noted that on
Thursday, an Iranian news organization had reported that “members of extremist
groups had been directed to penetrate officially functioning political
organizations of Tajikistan in order to propagandize their views.” It is also
possible that some of the Salafis involved in this effort may be Tajiks coming
from Afghanistan.
At present, the Communist Party of
Tajikistan is the third largest party in that Central Asian country, behind the
ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the Islamic Party for the Rebirth of
Tajikistan.
No comments:
Post a Comment