The National Alliance of Tajikistan (NAT) would like to draw the attentions of the heads of member states of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) who would participate in the 5th Summit of the conference which will be held on 14-15 June 2019 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan to the following points:

1) The National Alliance of Tajikistan does not only welcome the membership of Tajikistan in this inter-governmental forum that aims “enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia”, but believes that cooperation of the states of the region and the world in combating the phenomenon of terrorism is very important than ever due to the growing threat of terrorism and extremism in the region at the moment;

2) The National Alliance of Tajikistan does not consider use of force and military actions as only ways to combat terrorism and extremism, but it believes that the more important is how to analyse and eliminate factors driving youth vulnerability to recruitment by violent extremist groups. In our view, the key elements and factors pushing youth towards violent extremism are as following:

a) Lack of employment opportunities for the youth;

b) Restrictions on basic rights and freedoms, especially freedom of religion and creating obstacles for the religious ceremonies;

c) Widespread of corruptions in all levels of the government;

d) Poverty, etc

3) In light of the above mentioned facts, the National Alliance of Tajikistan would like to draw the attentions of the heads of member states of the CICA to the fact that however the Tajik government has always emphasized in the fight against terrorism and extremis, unfortunately its policies for the past 5 years (including ban of the IRPT, classifying it as a terrorist organization and sentencing its highly ranking members to long terms in prison) have practically led to the growth of terrorism. One of the examples is joining of the Tajik officers, including in the Special Forces to the terrorist groups. Moreover, the world has witnessed bloody attack on the foreign tourists in Danghara district and the bloody events in Khujand and recently Vahdat prisons. Citizens of Tajikistan have never seen such bloody and violent events during the years, when the IRPT was officially operating as a moderate political party in Tajikistan.

Therefore, the National Alliance of Tajikistan hopes head s of member states of the CICA in this up-coming summit will address and analyse the factors driving youth to the terrorist groups and take serious actions on eliminating these factors and overcoming the threats of terrorism.

National Alliance of Tajikistan

June 13, 2019