Asia-Plus: Новые незаконные методы призыва в армию TJ

Asia-Plus (Russian edition), 13 April 2023. The article reports on new forms of what it calls illegal conscription practices in Tajikistan, published at the start of the spring 2023 conscription (1 April – 31 May). The article reports that men aged 18 to 27 are called up, that the age cohort exceeds 200,000, and that unofficial estimates put each campaign at 6–7 thousand conscripts, with plans hard to meet. It reports official incentives (land plots, driving licences, service at place of residence for family men, financial help to families, exemption from tuition for students who suspend studies to serve). The article describes “облава” (raids/“hunting for conscripts”) — detentions without prior delivery of summons at homes, streets and markets, which human rights defenders consider unlawful but which authorities deny. It reports incidents of parents being held “hostage” at commissariats or police stations until sons working abroad return, with incidents described in Sughd region and Panjakent (around 15 people reportedly held for a week). A resident of Isfara (Исфара) told Asia-Plus they were held in the commissariat or internal-affairs department until sons returned or produced a plane ticket. The article reports that in Dilbari mahalla, Mehnatobod jamoat, Kushoniyon district, Khatlon region, authorities allegedly cut electrical wires and locked mosques for two weeks; jamoat head Khoshim Chillaev (Хошим Чиллаев) is cited as complaining that three mosques were closed. Similar mosque closures and power cuts were reported in Isfara. The article reports detentions of men at airports on return from Russia, including a 20-year-old from Tursunzade (Турсунзаде) detained at Kulyab airport in 2021. Kurbon Safarov (Курбон Сафаров), deputy director of Kulyab international airport, confirmed people in civilian clothes stood at airport entrances. A source told Asia-Plus that in 2023 the conscription campaign in some districts asked airports not to allow listed conscripts to board. The article reports raids at the Institute of Fine Arts and Design in Dushanbe, the medical college in Yavan district (where female students threw stones at a bus), and Khujand State University. Deputy director Zulfiya Khasanova (Зулфия Хасанова) confirmed an incident but said students were gathered for early exams. The article also describes a practice of parental lotteries using a tubeteika (skull-cap) in Vakhsh district and parts of Sughd region. It notes that in 2022 over 2,300 Tajik students went to the military as volunteers, per official information.