DUSHANBE, March 9, 2012, Asia-Plus -- Authorities in Tajikistan must immediately lift the order blocking domestic access to social-network website Facebook and the Russian-language sites centrasia.ru, tjk.news.com, zvezda.ru and maxala.org, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on March.

The agency cited scheduled technical maintenance although it did not explain why it would need to shut down these particular websites, the independent regional news website Ferghana News reported.

Reuters reported that the authorities issued the order the day after Polyarnaya Zvezda published a political commentary, headlined "Tajikistan on the eve of revolution," which TjkNews and CentrAsia republished shortly after.  It is unclear if maxala.org was targeted for similar reasons.  The article covered a recent meeting in which Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon allegedly ordered security services to increase surveillance of local religious groups and members of the Islamic Party of Tajikistan, news reports said. The article also criticized Rahmon for growing authoritarianism, inattention to government corruption, and increasing poverty, CPJ''s review of the articles found.

Minutes of Rahmon''s meeting were also posted on Facebook, which spurred several public comments, before access to the social networking site was blocked. 

“We call on officials to immediately restore access to Facebook and to news websites zvezda.ru, maxala.org, centrasia.ru, and tjknews.com,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said.  “Rahmon''s administration should tolerate the criticism and scrutiny that come with holding public office, and stop censoring critical media.”

Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on March 7 that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has called on Tajikistan to reverse instructions to block social-networking website Facebook and four independent news websites.  The OSCE described the move as a “worrying development.”