Tajik leader wants children out of madrassas

 Al-Arabiya

DUSHANBE (Agencies)

The president of mostly Muslim Tajikistan urged parents to withdraw their children from religious schools abroad, an appeal reflecting fears of radical Islam gaining ground in the Central Asian nation.

President Imomali Rakhmon, a former Soviet collective farm boss who has ruled the mountainous ex-Soviet state for nearly two decades, blasted Islamic religious schools for allegedly fostering terrorism.

"Many parents think that by sending their children to study in madrassas in Muslim countries they will be giving them a good financial position in the future," he said in remarks carried on state television.

" Unfortunately, most of them do not learn from mullahs, but from terrorists and extremists. They must all return home, otherwise they will become enemies and traitors "

President Imomali Rakhmon"Unfortunately, most of them do not learn from mullahs, but from terrorists and extremists. They must all return home, otherwise they will become enemies and traitors," he added.

Rakhmon did not name a particular country in the speech.

The government's religious affairs committee said two months ago that there were "dozens of Tajiks" studying at religious schools and universities abroad.

Analysts say deepening economic hardship and social problems are pushing Tajiks toward radical Islam, threatening stability in the otherwise secular nation of seven million.

Industrial output declined by 6.3 percent last year in Tajikistan, one of the poorest former Soviet republics.


Escaped militants

Central Asia governments have been clamping down on what they see as growing religious extremism in the predominantly Muslim but secular former Soviet region, following a rise in clashes between security forces and armed gangs that local governments say could be linked to the Taliban.

Twenty-five militants whom the government alleges are members of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) escaped from prison late Sunday, killing six guards and seizing weapons in a nighttime jaibreak.

Government officials said the militants were likely headed for the remote Rasht Valley region near the Afghan border, where many of them were arrested last year during a government clampdown on the restive area.

Guards along the rugged border with Afghanistan -- as well as neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and China -- were put on high alert to prevent the escaped militants from leaving the country.

The escapees include nationals of Afghanistan and six Russian citizens, all of them natives of the volatile North Caucasus region, where Russian authorities are battling an Islamist insurgency.

Human rights groups have accused Central Asian governments of using the Islamist threat as an excuse to crack down on political dissent in a region where, as in Soviet times, alternative views are often branded as extremist.

Tajik authorities frequently arrest and jail members of Muslim movements that are not endorsed by the government, describing them as extremists. The government has also sought to close down unregistered schools teaching Islam in Tajikistan.

Rakhmon said the government's religion committee would determine how many religious leaders the country needs and "send them to religious institutions that do not have extremist or terrorist aims".