Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

It’s a year since Muzaffar Davlatmirov, a respected religious leader in the Gorno-Badakhshan region in Tajikistan, witnessed Tajik state forces brutalise his community as part of a long-running attempt to suppress the area’s religion, culture and anti-government protests.

Now, the 59-year-old Ismaili khalifa (cleric) from the regional capital, Khorog, is in prison, as are hundreds of other locals.

On 3 August, days after the secret police arrested him, Badakhshan Regional Court jailed Muzaffar Davlatmirov, a respected 58-year-old Ismaili religious leader, for 5 years for alleged "public calls for extremist activity". "Davlatmirov is not an extremist, and did not call for 'extremist' activity," a local person who knows him told Forum 18. His relatives and friends do not know where he is serving his sentence. The regime has closed all Ismaili prayer houses in the region and the Ismaili Education Centre in Khorugh.

KHOROG, Tajikistan (IDN) — The city of Khorog is generally clean, but it has a problem with waste management. Residents leave their garbage on the streets and especially in public places. The central market is one of the places where there is a large garbage dump.

Prince Rahim Visits Khorog - 2009-06-04 | Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

DUSHANBE (TCA) — The University of Central Asia (UCA) and the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) in Tajikistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding on July 27 to develop Khorog into a safe and resilient city, and collaborate on several educational initiatives, including research capacities of young and mid-career scientists and lecturers.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The University of Central Asia (UCA) is rapidly progressing to complete the construction of its second campus in Tajikistan, scheduled to be ready by 2017, at a total capital layout of $94.4 million.

KHOROG, Tajikistan (IDN) – In this mountainous Gorno Badakhshan region with around a third of the population estimated to be unemployed, the exodus of the people for greener pastures abroad has gathered momentum in the past decade. To protect the colourful traditional culture from disappearing along with its population, the ‘Roof Top of the World” annual cultural festival was launched 12 years ago.

It now has the added objectives of attracting both its expat population to come back for a summer cultural break as well as to attract tourist to the region.

In the poorest bit of the former Soviet Union they look to a leader of yore

November 4, 2008, Asia-Plus - On Monday November 3, His Highness the Aga Khan attended the groundbreaking ceremony for construction of the Ismaili Cultural-Educational Center, Jamatkhana, in Khorog, Gorno Badakhshan. Speaking at the ceremony, the Aga Khan said that the Center should promote combining efforts to develop mutual understanding and stability in the region.

Your Excellency President Rakhmonov, Your Excellency Deputy Chairman Koimdodov for the Majlisi Olli, Your Excellency Chairman Nyazmamadov, Your Excellency the Mayor, distinguished guests.

We gather this afternoon to open the first formal educational program undertaken by the Aga Khan Development Network in Central Asia. I thank you President Rakhmonov for your kind words on this special occasion and for your encouragement.

THE RECENT DEATH of Ronald Reagan led many in the West to celebrate once again the fall of the Soviet Union 13 years ago. But in Khorog, a town of around 25,000 on the Tajik-Afghan border, that historic event is remembered with less happy feelings. Abandoned cranes, half-finished cement buildings and the hulls of Soviet tanks all hark back to an era when subsidies ran rich to this distant corner of Moscow's empire and supplies were trucked in without consequence of cost. 'Life was very good here during Soviet times,' explains Yorali, a local artist.

American authorities predicted a sharp decrease in drug trafficking after the eradication of Afghanistan's Taliban regime - known to feed its activities by selling opiates abroad. But its northern neighbour, Tajikistan, knows better.
Months after the ouster of the hardline Afghan regime, trafficking in heroin - dubbed 'white death' in Tajikistan - is far from eradicated.

'We evaluate that there has been a 13 to 15 per cent increase in drug trafficking since the beginning of the US intervention in Afghanistan,' said Abai Iugochev, head of press relations for the Tajik Drug Control Agency.

DUSHANBE, June 1, 2009, Asia-Plus — Prince Rahim Aga Khan, first son of His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, is arriving in Tajikistan tomorrow on a three-day working visit, the MFA information department reported.

During his stay in Tajikistan, Prince Rahim will review programs of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Tajikistan. Prince Rahim is also expected to hold talks with a number of Tajik state officials, the MFA information department said.

Prince rahim is in Khorog Today. People were very excited and despite the rain people were running up and down the city.