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Clinton warns Tajikistan on stoking radical Islam | ||||
2011-10-23 | ||||
DUSHANBE: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
“I disagree with restrictions on religious freedom and shared those concerns,” Clinton told a news conference after meeting Rakhmon. She said efforts to regulate religion “could push legitimate religious expression underground, and that could build up a lot of unrest and discontent.”
Both Karimov and Rakhmon have moved to limit religious freedom in their own countries, both of which remain under authoritarian rule two decades after they emerged from the break-up of the Soviet Union. Tajikistan, a mainly Muslim country of 7.5 million people, introduced laws in August to ban youths from praying in mosques, churches and other religious sites, a move that was criticized by religious leaders in the former Soviet state. Rakhmon, in power since 1992, has said tough measures are needed to stop the spread of religious fundamentalism in an impoverished country that shares a porous 1,340-km (840-mile) border with Afghanistan. “You have to look at the consequences,” Clinton said. “We would hope there would be a rethinking of any restrictions going forward, because we think it will increase sympathy for extremist views which would in turn threaten the stability and security of the country.” Rakhmon’s Moscow-backed secular government clashed with the Islamist opposition during a 1992-97 civil war, in which tens of thousands were killed.
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Posted by:Steve White |
#2 Hillary "We came, we saw, he died" Clinton speaks. |
Posted by: JohnQC 2011-10-23 18:49 |
#1 Meanwhile in Liberated Afghanistan 'Breathing while Ex-Muslim' carries the death penalty ... |
Posted by: Hupaick Glins4333 2011-10-23 14:12 |