Fighting radicalism: Tajikistan shaves 13,000 people’s beards

President Emomali Rahmon is known for taking steps to promote and protect Tajikistan’s stability, says a broadcasting organisation.

Dushanbe, Tajikistan

: Police in Tajikistan have shaved the beards of nearly 13,000 people last year as a part of the country’s fight against ‘foreign’ influences. The police have also shut down more than 160 shops that sold traditional Muslim clothing.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Bahrom Sharifzoda, head of Khathlon region's police said that more than 1,700 women were convinced by the law enforcement services to stop wearing headscarves, especially in Muslim-majority central Asian country.

This move is seen as a part of curing ‘radicalisation’. Tajikistan’s secular leadership has always tried to maintain a distance from its neighboring Afghanistan. Last week, the country’s parliament had voted to ban Arabic-sounding names as well as marriages between first cousins. It is soon expected to be approved by President Emomali Rahmon.

Emomali Rahmon is known for taking steps to promote and protect Tajikistan’s stability, says Radio Liberty, a broadcasting organisation.

Emomali Rahmon has been the President of Tajikistan since 1994. His current term is expected to end in the year 2020.

Earlier in September, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan had banned Radio Liberty, the country’s only Muslim political party.