Military enlistment office employees have intensified pressure on residents

Social media users complain that military enlistment office employees are pressuring young people of conscription age and their parents. Typically, twice a year – during the spring and autumn conscription periods – enlistment office staff collect “harvests” in the form of bribes. Users report that this year they have intensified their pressure even more.

Users published a complaint in the group “Ahbor baroi afkor/Information for Reflection” on Facebook, where current and pressing social issues are usually discussed, and emphasized that “threats, violence, and coercion in the country’s enlistment offices” have increased.

The author of the publication called such actions by the authorities and enlistment office employees “shameful.”

“If you cannot fulfill your duties, then let deserving people serve their nation! What you are doing by forcibly bringing parents to enlistment offices (which is an abuse of power) to make them return their sons from labor migration and send them to serve in the army is not a solution to the problem!” – he writes.

The complaint also received a response from Tajik lawyers.

“If any parents are forcibly taken to the enlistment office, hit them in the mouth and spit in their face. They have no authority to summon you or threaten you because of your children. Do not let them enter your home without an official document, hit them on the head with anything, you have the right, as your home is private property, and the law guarantees your safety in your own home,” commented Tajik lawyer Karimjon Yorov on the publication.

Civil activist Bahodur Razzokov, in his comment, suggested a way to eradicate this problem, which has existed for 30 years under Emomali Rahmon’s rule and worsens every year. “It is necessary to reform – eliminate enlistment offices and fully transition to contract military service. Then this problem will be eradicated,” he wrote.

Some users also write that until young men reach the age of 18, the authorities do not think about the patriotism of the youth, but as soon as they turn 18, they are forcibly detained, made to become patriots, and sent to serve in the army.

Experts believe that the reason for young people’s evasion of military service primarily lies in the non-statutory relationships among servicemen, beatings, and torture of recruits by older soldiers. Therefore, to eradicate this problem, radical reforms are necessary. Additionally, a small online study showed that these days residents are most searching for “raids in Tajikistan” to find new information or news.