Procession in Darvaz District

Tens of residents of the Darvoz district of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region took to the streets in the administrative center of the district.

According to official data, on the morning of April 25, 2023, a group of “leaders of district bodies and institutions, youth, residents, representatives of various professions, schoolchildren, and teachers” organized a procession in the Darvoz district.

Photos published on social media show that participants in the procession are holding state flags and portraits of President Emomali Rahmon. According to users, most of them participated in the procession under duress.

The organizers stated that the purpose of the procession in this remote area is to demonstrate “the unique contribution of Emomali Rahmon” to the development of GBAO and, in particular, this district. However, one participant in the procession (for safety reasons, our interlocutor’s name is not disclosed) told Azda TV: “Officials say whatever they want. But my goal, as well as the goal of several of my acquaintances, is to participate in such mass events, gain experience, and gather evidence to organize protest marches in the future.”

According to him, it is true that the appearance of the district has changed, with more modern buildings, “but believe me, the attitude of the authorities towards the residents is worsening day by day, and pressure is increasing. On one hand, there is pressure to recruit conscripts into the armed forces, and on the other hand, due to the care of large and small livestock,” our interlocutor complained.

The source also expressed concern: “In reality, Emomali Rahmon himself recently sold more than a thousand square kilometers of land to China ‘for pennies.’ However, so many years have passed, and not a single official has come together to express their concerns and ask, why did you sell part of our land?”

Some experts say that if the authorities had not embezzled the underground and surface resources of the region in various ways, spending 10% of the income from these resources for the benefit of the region over 4 years could have radically changed the lives of the residents, allowing them to live like royalty, but the authorities do not do this.