On February 23, 2021, on National Army Day, the leader of the Group 24 political movement, Suhrob Zafar, made a report on the causes of problems in the army and ways to overcome them, as well as the need to create a powerful and modern army.
First of all, Suhrob Zafar said that serving in the army is a school of courage and courage for every person. The army, in turn, is an institution that is obliged to protect the independence and integrity of the country’s borders and the peaceful life of people.
The question arises: is military service mandatory for every young person?
To find an answer to this question, Suhrob Zafar first talked directly with the audience and, after discussing various opinions, came to the conclusion that military service is mandatory for every young person, because it is an important school that trains men, prepares them to protect the Motherland. And despite the fact that today the army is in the service of the tyrannical regime of Rakhmonov, young people must go to military service.
So why are so many young people trying to avoid service? Based on the opinion of the audience, the leader of the political movement “Group-24” came to the conclusion that this undesirable phenomenon is observed for several reasons. Firstly, today the army has an unwritten law called “hazing,” according to which new conscripts must obey the old. As a result, soldiers are subjected to psychological and physical torture, sometimes resulting in disability and death. In addition, not all military units have housing, living conditions, uniforms of soldiers are good. Soldiers today are not raised in the spirit of patriotism and do not put priority – the protection of the Motherland. Now the Parliament of Tajikistan plans to adopt a bill on the possibility of paying and not going to serve, but this is not in the interests of both the soldiers themselves, and society and the state.
Another issue that Suhrob Zafar discussed with the audience was whether the Tajik army is today able to protect borders and territory. Have to analysed and exchanged views on this issue, the panellists concluded that today the Tajik army is in a poor situation, both in terms of equipment and in terms of training and opportunities. According to respondents, it isn’t connected with amount of money, allocated with the budget of the country, as an example it is possible to cite the Uzbek army, expenses on which three times smaller, than expenses on Kazakhstan, but at the same time it is several times more powerful also еquipped , than the Kazakhstan army. The problem is that the level of education and preparation of military shots in the Tajik army low. Low wages of officers mean that the money allocated to this sector isn’t spent purposefully steal them and plunder. Instead of studying military receptions and skills, soldiers waste time, for work and orders of certain officers. That is why Tajikistan – one of the weakest countries in terms of military potential, and a situation worsens every year. As a result of this weakness of national army, Tajikistan gave a part of the lands China and to Kyrgyzstan. When the public brought up this question, the authorities were explained that if we didn’t give these lands China, then China will be able to intrude on our territory and to take more. But why then Kyrgyzstan not just didn’t give the lands China, but also demanded to return the lands?
In the conclusion, Suhrob Zafar summed up the results of today’s conversation and came to a conclusion that according to poll the National army of Tajikistan is in very difficult situation today and her state worsens from year to year. Till 2000 the army of the country had good fighting skills, thanks to the commanders who underwent civil war. But for the last two decades after many of these commanders were killed, imprisoned and deported, the national army lost the fighting skills. And also I suffered losses because of repressions against own people, for the sake of protection of a dictatorship of Rakhmonov, and protecting parts of the territory of the country from external aggression. However we have to do military service and to be ready to protect borders of the Homeland, and the people have to have an army in the service, but not oppress the people according to instructions of the dictator Rakhmonov. Therefore today we need strong and powerful army. We have no need to buy a lot of military equipment for army as 93 percent of the territory of Tajikistan occupy mountains. In this regard we need more ground forces and infantry which can work in mountain conditions.
Today incompetent persons direct the Tajik army. The Minister of Defence of Tajikistan and other high-ranking officials should move gradually from lower to top levels and it is good to know the profession. Unlike many generals in Tajikistan, Rakhmonov Rustam’s the son of the Rakhmonov, was entitled at the age of 25 years without any service.
Thirdly, our geopolitical situation requires that all young people in the country unconditionally perform military service, and there is no need for a professional army and payment for unwillingness to serve.
And finally, we must choose another date for the celebration of National Army Day, because this date belongs to the Soviet era and has nothing to do with our history and culture.
In general, in order for Tajikistan to maintain independence and territorial integrity in the future, we need a strong army.
Information Department of “Group-24”
