Police Day is celebrated annually in Tajikistan on November 10. The Tajik police, as the successor to the Soviet police, continued its activities as an independent Tajik institution after the state gained independence.
Police Day until 2012 was celebrated in Tajikistan on February 6, but was postponed to November 10 at the suggestion of the Ministry of the Interior and the presidential decree on its historical date, the founding day of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs (PCIA). And this despite the fact that the post-Soviet republics after gaining independence chose their own celebrations and ceremonies depending on their national history and culture. On the other hand, Tajikistan celebrates Police Day as a legacy of the Soviet era, like Russia itself.
Secondly, it should be noted that during the years of independence, the Tajik police lost their reputation. This body, like other law enforcement agencies, is known for its ill-treatment of detainees, injustice, and the use of torture in solving crimes. This led, of course, to deliberately unfair investigations, corruption, and in general, to public distrust of this body. Today, residents of the country do not see their defenders and supporters in the face of the police, but only experience fear and distrust. Although the law provides for 2 to 15 years in prison for torture and ill-treatment, we have never heard of law enforcement officials being held accountable for their offences.
In order to improve the work of law enforcement agencies and the transparency of their activities, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, representatives of civil society and international organizations have been working since 2010 to reform the police in Tajikistan.
The purpose of the reform was not only to change the name from “police” to “police,” but first of all, to increase the professionalism of employees, to combat corruption in this area, to eradicate torture and ill-treatment of detainees.
According to official statistics, from 2012 to 2019, more than 1 billion somoni were spent from the state budget on police reform, and 329 million somoni were provided by international organizations. However, all this could not improve the work of the institution. The main problem is that police reform is not in the interests, first of all, of our government. The police under the Rakhmonov regime continue to be used as an instrument to suppress political dissent. Of course, in the ranks of our police and law enforcement agencies there are many honest and professional employees, real defenders, but they can do nothing against Rakhmonov’s dictatorial regime.
The political movement “Group-24” congratulates all police officers on their professional holiday and wishes them success, happiness and, most importantly, fulfillment of their main mission: to protect the rights of the people!
We hope that the day will come very soon when our beloved country will come out of the grip of the dictatorial regime of Rakhmonov and the Tajik police will become the true defender of the people and the Motherland.
Political movement “Group 24”
