DUSHANBE, March 10, Asia-Plus -- Facebook and several independent news websites remain blocked in Tajikistan, and an official has suggested the cutoff may be linked to potential national security concerns, Radio Liberty reported on March 9.

Access by Tajiks to Facebook and the Russian-language sites centrasia.ru, tjk.news.com, zvezda.ru, and maxala.org has been cut off since March 3, apparently in response to an order from the state communications agency.

Tajikistan''s representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in a statement that Internet sites and media have to be “accountable” for their actions.

The statement, from envoy Nouriddin Shamsov, also said government has a duty to provide national security and "combat “cybercrimes.”