DUSHANBE, January 4, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- An extraordinary meeting of the board of Sozandagoni Vatan (Creators of Homeland) that was held in Dushanbe yesterday condemned the deadly New Year’s stabbing attack on 24-year-old Parviz Davlatbekov dressed as Father Frost.

“Sozandagoni Vatan condemns the murder regardless of its motives and calls on Tajik youth to unite against the spread of violence in the country,” the Sozandagoni Vatan chairman Adham Mirsaidov said.

“We could not stand aside because both the victim and those who committed that crime are young men,” said Mirsaidov.  “We would like to remind people who are propagating the cult of violence in the country that Tajikistan is a democratic, rule of law, and secular state and freedom of conscience and freedom of human being and citizen is protected by law in our country.”

In its statement, Sozandagoni Vatan expressed condolences to relatives and friends of Parviz Davlatbekov and called on the law enforcement authorities to thoroughly investigate the murder.

Sozandagoni Vatan is the youth organization of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).  The PDP created the Sozandagoni Vatan organization in July and its founding conference took place on July 27, 2011.  The conference elected Adham Mirsaidov, formerly head of the PDP organizing department, chairman of the Sozandagoni Vatan organization.  The main objective of the organization is in fostering a spirit of patriotism, devotion to ideas of national self-consciousness and independence of the country in the young generation.

Founded in 1993, the People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan is the biggest political party in Tajikistan.  Its chairman is President Emomali Rahmon.  The party controls some 70 percent of seats in the lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) of the parliament.  It is the largest party, boasting more than 150,000 registered members.