DUSHANBE, March 5, 2014, Asia-Plus – The Government of Kyrgyzstan has not yet made a decision on reopening the border crossing points (BCPs) on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.

Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister, Tokon Mamytov, who is co-chairman of the Kyrgyz-Tajik intergovernmental commission for demarcation and delimitation of disputed segments of mutual border, told this to Kyrgyz news agency AKIpress on March 5 while commenting on the report that BCPs on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border will reopen on March 5-7.

“It is not so.  The Tajik side has applied to the Government of Kyrgyzstan asking to reopen the BCPs but the Government of Kyrgyzstan has not yet made a final decision and this issue is still under consideration,” Mamytov noted.   

We will recall that a source in the Tajik government has told Asia-Plus that Kyrgyzstan is expected to reopen the border crossing points on its common border with Tajikistan o March 5.  According to him, an agreement on this subject was reached at a meeting of the Tajik-Kyrgyz intergovernmental commission for demarcation and delimitation of disputed segments of mutual border that took place in Dushanbe on March 3.

Kyrgyzstan recalled its ambassador to Tajikistan and unilaterally closed border crossing points (BCPs) on its common border with Tajikistan after the exchange of gunfire that took place along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border on January 11.

The clash started when Tajiks protested Kyrgyzstan’s construction of a bypass road through a disputed area.  Tajikistan has requested to halt the construction of the road until the border is delimited.

Five Kyrgyz border guards, one Kyrgyz policeman, and two Tajik border guards were wounded in the clash.