Tajik mobile phone operators have shut down their SMS services as the country’s authorities brace for a possible opposition rally in Dushanbe on Friday, sources in these companies told Interfax. The authorities have been taking all necessary measures to stop the opposition Group 24, which was recognized as an extremist organization by the Tajik Supreme Court on Thursday, from staging this illegal rally. “Yesterday we received an instruction from the Communications Service to shut down our SMS services pending further notice. We did as we were told. No explanations were given to us. We do not know for how long this measure may stay in force,” a representative of a Tajik cell phone operator’s management said on condition of anonymity. The support services of these companies have officially explained these steps by “technical problems.” Among other measures, the Tajik authorities have set up checkpoints and have deployed armored hardware on all roads leading to the country’s capital Dushanbe. There is a large police presence on all central streets of the city. Armed Forces servicemen holding weapons can be seen as well. Calls for joining a rally in Dushanbe in the afternoon on October 10, i.e. immediately after the Friday prayer, appeared in a number of Tajik social media on October 3. The rally’s title indicated in the posts is ‘Tajikistan Demands Change’ and the slogans proposed are ‘Tajikistan Without Rahmon’, ‘For Fair Elections’ and ‘For Decent Life’.
Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines
