December 8-January 1

"JUSTICE-SEEKING " PARTY SUSPENDED FOR SIX MONTHS

Asia-Plus # 1 informs that on December 26, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan following representation of the Minister of Justice of the country suspended the "Adolatkhoh" (Justice-Seeking) Party from the activity for six months. The Judge of the Supreme Court Jalol Isroilov said in his interview with Asia-Plus that the Adolatkhoh Party had violated several points of the RT Law "On Political Parties" including Article 3 of that Law. In accordance with this Article political parties must have their primary organizations in the majority districts of the country. As far as the Adolatkhoh Party is concerned, it has only two primary organizations - in the Zafarabad and Ura Teppa districts of the Sughd region. Besides, political parties must inform the local authorities of their activities in those districts, but the leadership of the Adolatkhoh Party has not done that. Besides, they have put on the list of the Party persons, which have not the faintest idea about that political party. Jalol Isroilov added that the Supreme Court had not put a ban on that party; the Party had just been suspended from its activity for six months. He says that if they remove all those violations within that period they may continue their political activity. But if the violations are not removed, by representation of the Minister of Justice the Adolatkhoh Party may be banned.

PRESIDENT RAHMONOV RECEIVED THE RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT

Newspapers informed that at the end of the last week President Rahmonov had met the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Vyacheslav Trubnikov. The President of Tajikistan and the Russian diplomat discussed the issues of bilateral relations between the two countries and the regional security, in particular the current situation in Afghanistan. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to Tajikistan Maxim Peshkov also took part the meeting.

TAJIKISTAN IS NOT READY TO ADMIT THE AFGHAN REFUGEES

"Vecherny Dushanbe" # 1 informs that the Chairman of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (lower chamber of Tajik parliament) Sadullo Khayrulloyev has stated about that in St. Petersburg, where the 11th session of the Inter-parliament Committee of five countries of the CIS - Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan has been held. At the same time, the Speaker of the Majlisi Namoyandagon noted that the Tajik government would consider the issues connected with the refugees if the Rabbani's government formally requested it.

TAJIK-KIRGYZ BORDER IS SHORTER BUT THEN THERE ARE MORE PROBLEMS

"Vecherny Dushanbe" # 1 informs that the Co-chairman of the Kirgyz-Uzbek inter-government commission on delineation of border stated that there were 700 disputable points on 990-kilometer Tajik-Kirgyz border, while on 1,308-kilometer common border of Kirgyzstan with Uzbekistan they had only 140 disputable points.

EXCHANGE OF THE TAJIK RUBLES FOR THE NEW NATIONAL CURRENCY IS IN FULL SWING

Asia-Plus # 1 informs that according to information received from the National Bank of Tajikistan, by December 28 of 2000 the actual exchange of the Tajik Rubles (TJR) for the new national currency has amounted to 36.049736 million Somoni. According to the source for the whole period of the currency reform, since October 30, TJR 67.974529 billion have been withdrawn from the circulation. During six days, TJR 2.719415 billion have been withdrawn from the circulation.

AS USUAL, PLAN OF COTTON PICKING HAS NOT BEEN FULFILLED

Newspapers inform that by December 25, cotton-growing farms of Tajikistan have picked up 335,285 tons of cotton; it makes 55.9 % of the originally planned and 22,000 tons more than in 1999. The cotton-growers of the country have picked up more than 34,000 tons of fine-fibre cotton (41.2 %). Next year they plan to increase the area under cotton up to 270,000 hectares, 30,000 hectares more than in the current year.

UZBEK GAS-WORKS EMPLOYEES MADE CONCESSIONS

The Chairman of "TAJIKCOMMUNESERVICE" Mahmadruzi Iskandarov described in his interview with Asia-Plus the recent negotiations with partners from Uzbekistan as successful. According to him despite the fact that quota on gas delivered from Uzbekistan was exhausted on December 22 already the gas supply has not been cut off. At request of "TAJIKCOMMUNESERVICE" the Uzbek side even increased the delivery of gas for the period of holidays. In December, Uzbekistan delivered 76 million m3 of gas to Tajikistan, while the quota on gas for December was 42 million m3 of gas. The parties continue consultations on the issues of mutual payments. As it was reported before "TAJIKCOMMUNESERVICE" is in debt to its Uzbek partners to the tune of $ 1.3 million, while the Tajik users of gas are in debt to "TAJIKCOMMUNESERVICE" to the tune of nearly $ 30 million.

NOT ONLY CHRISTMAS CRACKER MADE AN EXPLOSIVE SOUND IN NEW YEAR'S NIGHT

Newspapers informed that two explosions thundered in Dushanbe, in New Year's night. The first explosion occurred at 7:10 p.m. near the storehouse of the cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church in the eastern party of Dushanbe. The explosion blasted the door and windows of the storehouse down. Fortunately, nobody suffered from the explosion. According to the source 10 minutes later the other explosion occurred near the Adventist church in the Vtoroy Sovetsky area of Dushanbe. The explosion blasted windows of neighboring buildings down. There are no casualties among the population.

UZBEKISTAN TRY TO "STEAL" TAJIKS'S HISTORY

In September 2001, by a government's resolution Tajikistan will celebrate the 2700th anniversary of "Avesta" - the sacred book of ancient Iranians, forebears of Tajiks. "Vecherny Dushanbe" # 1 writes that in 2003, Uzbekistan is going to hold under auspices of UNESCO celebrations dedicated to Avesta. In his interview with the newspaper the Director of the Institute of History of the Tajik Academy of Sciences Academician Rahim Masov expressed in a very sharp form his discontent with a policy of the Uzbek leadership. In his opinion, Uzbekistan tries to misappropriate the others' history and culture and rank Uzbeks among Aryans. Rahim Masov interprets that as a direct plot against the past history of Tajiks. The purpose of this plot is "to belittle the importance of the great past of the Tajik people, the role of its ancestors in the world civilization".