INCIDENT ON TAJIK-UZBEK BORDER HIGHLIGHTS UNEASY RELATIONS
On September 11, 2012, Uzbekistan’s Committee on Protection of the State Border under the Service of State Security (SSS) stated that Uzbek border guards had come under fire from Tajik counterparts near the village Chillamazor in Zaamin rayon, Jizakh district. Tajik border guards had purportedly crossed the Uzbek-Tajik border line adopted as a result of an Interstate Agreement signed by the Presidents and Parliaments of the two states. One Uzbek border guard was injured in the exchange of fire and Uzbekistan has appealed to Tajik authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation of the incident.
Uzbek authorities claim that during a subsequent bilateral meeting of border control representatives the head of the Tajik Istaravshan border protection unit, Colonel Mirzoev, “revealing his ignorance” of the abovementioned interstate agreement, stated that the territory where the incident occurred belongs to Tajikistan. Furthermore, the Uzbek border authorities reported the location of the Tajik border guards on Uzbek territory, 800 meters from the agreed border line as well as their illegal use of firearms against Uzbekistan’s SSS military personnel. “During the military attack around ten Tajik border guards were on the territory of Uzbekistan and after the gunshots they went to their territory and took artillery positions.” According to Uzbek authorities, their Tajik counterparts still have not informed them about any disciplinary actions taken.
The Tajik border authorities have provided their own version of the incident. The Head of Border Administration under Tajikistan’s State Committee on National Security (SCNS) stated that “on September 11 near the Chapan ruins of Shahristan region of Sughd district of Tajikistan, an armed military border guard of the Republic of Uzbekistan crossed the state border on horseback and went 150-200 meters inside the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan, and started to videotape from the camera of his mobile phone the territory of the country, including people that were engaged on agricultural works near the border.” As the Uzbek soldier ignored calls from Tajik border guards to return, the Tajik soldiers sought to deter the violatorrnt the violator. to Uzbek territory, ikistan on of the incident. ions taken regarding the ones . At this moment the Uzbek border guard started firing at his Tajik counterparts, who returned fire in self-defence while the violator escaped to Uzbekistan.
The local newspaper Vzglyad reports that the Tajik border guards opened fire after they were forced to leave Uzbek territory. The Uzbek border guards, in turn, did not fire at all, following the international norm that no arms should be directed to the territory of the other country.
Both parties have reported similar cases in the past. In November 2011, an exchange of fire took place on the Tajik-Uzbek border near the cities of Bekabad and Hujand in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, respectively. It was stated that a Tajik resident of the Sughd district tried to illegally cross the border at night, but that Uzbek border guards detected him and opened fire. Their Tajik counterparts, in turn, started firing in the air to distract the Uzbeks. According to representatives of the Tajik SCNS, the violator was captured by Tajik authorities and charged with illegally crossing the international border. Uzbek media reported that the Uzbek side had captured the violator and that the incident was an attempt by Tajik drug dealers to cross the border, as 3.8 kilograms of heroin were apprehended. An Uzbek sergeant was killed during the incident.
Representatives of the Tajik border authorities also recall a similar incident on September 1 this year in the Shahristan region of Sughd district, when three armed border guards of the Uzbek checkpoint Chillamazor crossed the border on horseback, proceeded one kilometer into Tajik territory and captured a Tajik citizen who was grazing livestock. In spite of Tajikistan’s requests to report the place and condition of the Tajik citizen, Uzbekistan has provided no such information.
Following the Uzbek authorities’ statement on the most recent incident, the Tajik border guard representatives stated that this is not the first time that the Uzbek side has accused its Tajik counterpart in the media without waiting for the completion of the official investigation of the incident. Meanwhile, the Tajik side claims to avoid hasty media statements in order not to aggravate the situation at the border.
In spite of sharing a long common border of 1283 kilometers, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have uneasy relations as illustrated by the actual incidents at the border. Due to a previous downturn in bilateral relations in 2001 and 2002, the Uzbek side mined several areas near the border to protect its territory from illegal trespassing. In addition, air communication between the two states has not been in place since 1992 and in 2001 Tashkent and Dushanbe introduced a visa regime. While it can be expected that each side will present its own view on the situation, it is clear that border incidents need to be handled carefully in this tense bilateral relationship.
