A mosque was destroyed in Arbabi village of Vahdat city. According to some villagers, the reason is that not enough soldiers were sent from this village to the ranks of the Tajik army. Officials say that this allegation is not true and that this news was spread by sensationalists.
On October 13, Radio Ozodi reporters went to Arbabi village in Vahdat city. The temple, known by the local people as Haji Bahriddin Mosque, is in a semi-ruined condition.
The people of the village did not want to tell in front of the video camera why the mosque was partially destroyed, because, according to one of them, they are suffering from headaches. Dilshod, another resident of the village, said that the mosque will be rebuilt. He said that the mosque “will not be turned upside down, only a little bit will be returned to its previous state. They change a little, but they don’t turn it upside down.”
This is despite the fact that several users sent videos to Radio Ozodi saying that they destroyed the mosque on October 12. The reason, according to them, was the failure to send the village youth to the army. Officials deny allegations that the mosque was destroyed because the youth of Arbabi village did not join the army.
Sulaymon Najmiddinov, head of the religious affairs department in the Vahdat government, told Radio Ozldy on October 13: “We plan to take into account the condition of the mosque building and, together with the architecture and urban planning department of Vahdat, draw up a project of a part of the mosque building and according to the requirements let’s rebuild it today.”
Demolition of mosques in Tajikistan or closing them has been observed a lot in the past. In recent years, official authorities have also closed the doors of mosques to religious people with the demand of sending their children to the army.
In 2017, the country closed the doors of about 2,000 mosques due to lack of necessary documents. Human rights organizations constantly criticize the government of Tajikistan for neglecting the religious rights of the people and ask it to respect this legal right of the people.
Source : Радио Озоди