KHUJAND, January 16, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- 156 members of the Salafiya religious movement were revealed in the Sughd province last year, the Sughd police chief Abdurahim Qahhorov announced at a press conference in Khujand last week.

According to him, they are currently under control of the law enforcement authorities.

In 2008, operations carried out by police officers also led to the arrest of eleven members of the outlawed religious extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, Qahhorov said.

He further added that four members of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) had been detained in the Isfara district this year.

We will recall that the Supreme Court on January 8 issued a ban on the Salafiya religious movement.  The court ruling specifically prohibits the import and distribution of Salafiya religious material.

Salafis espouse an ultra-traditional approach to religion, asserting that their practices emulate those which existed during Islam’s early days.  Some devout Hanafi Muslims -- including Islamic scholars and Tajik officials – are concerned over the growing influence and exclusionism of the Salafis.  According to them, the danger is that Salafis see themselves as the purest Muslims and exclude others, renouncing many kinds of Islam -- Shi''ism and Sufism among them.

Some believe Salafism is similar to Wahabbism, and many people use those terms interchangeably.  It has reportedly been growing in Tajikistan in recent years and its leaders claim they now have over 20,000 supporters in the country.  Tajik officials, however, downplay the figures putting them at several hundreds.