DUSHANBE, July 14, 2014, Asia-Plus – The situation along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border remains relatively stable, Kyrgyz border service’s press center reports.

A meeting of representatives of border services and law enforcement authorities of Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region and Tajikistan’s Sughd province took place in the Tajik northern city of Isfara on July 13.

The sides reportedly discussed issues related to organization of interaction on maintaining peace and stability in the region.  They also discussed measures to prevent future use of weapons, Kyrgyz border service said, noting that border crossing points (BCPs) along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border operate in routine regime.

An official source at the Isfara mayor’s office confirmed that the situation along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border was currently stable.  According to him, all roads along the border are open.  

We will recall that the latest violence that occurred along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border on July 10 left one Tajik national dead and seven wounded.  Tensions have risen sharply again in this volatile part of the Fergana Valley after negotiations over a controversial road construction project fell apart earlier last week.

Both sides blamed each other for starting the incident.  Tajikistan''s Foreign Ministry says the Kyrgyz border guards picked a fight, shot without warning, and that the Tajik border guards did not fire a single shot while the Kyrgyz border service said Tajik border guards had fired mortars and a grenade launcher toward Kyrgyz territory after the incident.