Tajikistan officials are texting women to tell them what to wear
They are no longer allowed to wear a hijab
Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Amanda Erikson.
Tajikistan is using a text message campaign to publicize a new law requiring people to “stick to traditional and national clothes and culture” at events like weddings and funerals.
“Observe Tajik traditional clothes,” one message read. Another advised citizens to “respect traditional clothes.”
What’s out
The law bans “nontraditional dress” and “alien garments.” Activists say those are euphemisms for the hijab, which officials have labeled part of “alien culture and traditions” in the past.
The government says the new rule, passed by legislators in August, will help combat Islamist radicalism. The country’s legislators are still figuring out how they might punish those who don’t oblige.
Tajikistan’s Muslims, though, see a more nefarious aim — an effort to regulate their faith. Ninety percent of Tajiks are Muslim, but the government has worked assiduously to stamp out most markers of the faith.
The government’s battle against Islam
Tajikistan was once part of the Soviet Union, which was officially atheist. When the country gained independence in 1991, the hijab became highly unpopular, and the government has implemented strict laws on religion ever since:
- All religious groups must register with the state, and the government has final say over whether houses of worship can be built and whether children can attend religious schools.
- Officials regulate the distribution of religious literature.
- Those younger than 18 cannot participate in public religious activities, and Islamic prayer is tightly monitored.
- Religious weddings and funerals are regulated by state officials.
More recently, the government has cracked down on outward appearance. Officials have tried to discourage women from wearing the hijab through advertisements and news reports on state media suggesting that women who cover their faces might be prostitutes.
Last year, it closed scores of shops selling women’s religious clothing, and in August, more than 8,000 women were stopped because they were wearing a hijab.
According to reports, teams of state officials instructed the women on how to tie their headscarves in a more “traditional” way, warning them to tie the scarf from behind, which would leave the front of the neck exposed.
And, in March 2016, government officials forcibly shaved beards off approximately 13,000 Muslim men.
The government also publicly criticizes Muslim women who wear hijabs.
In 2015, President Emomali Rahmon, who has been in power since 1992, said the hijab was a sign of “poor education and incivility.”
Last month, an official told Radio Liberty that “all Salafist wives wear hijabs.”
“We have many examples where women wearing the hijab take drugs, deal in human trafficking and other things that are far from Tajik culture and the honor of Tajik women,” he said.
The Tajik government says rules like the one regulating dress are imperative to the fight against terrorism. Officials say that hundreds of Tajiks have gone to fight for the Islamic State, though activists contest that number.
Muslims and human rights advocates say the government is obsessing about the wrong things.
“Defending our culture, traditions and national values is undoubtedly important for the Tajik people and the unity of the population,” Faiziniso Vohidova, a lawyer and rights activist, told Eurasianet. “But this should not be accompanied by the violation of human rights and interference in people’s lives. … I think lowering poverty levels and improving the economy are more important matters than women’s clothing.”
