Nearly 700 Tajiks continue to study religion abroad despite president's appeal to come home

Dushanbe (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Tajik president's appeal in August 2010 for Tajik nationals studying at foreign religious higher education institutions to end their studies and return home has so far resulted in only two-thirds of those studying coming back, the government's Committee for Religious Affairs said on Friday.

"In the current academic year, 2,115 Tajik citizens were enrolled in various religious higher education institutions outside Tajikistan; of that number, 1,430 people have returned home by now," the Committee said in a statement.

President Emomali Rahmon claimed in August that some of the Tajiks studying at religious schools abroad became "terrorists and extremists" by the time they returned to their country. He urged the parents of Tajiks doing courses at foreign religious institutions to persuade them to come back home.

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