DUSHANBE, July 7, 2015, Asia-Plus -- To-date, 3,008 of 3,360 Tajik students studying at religious schools abroad have returned home, Sulaymon Davlatov, the head of the Committee on Religious Affairs and Regulation of National Traditions and Rituals under the Government of Tajikistan (CRA), told reporters in Dushanbe on July 7.

According to him, 64 Tajik students returning from foreign religious schools are suspected of committing crimes.  “29 of them have been convicted of membership in terrorist and terrorist groups in the country and outside of it, including five convicted of membership in the outlawed Salafi group,” Davlatov said, noting that six others are still wanted by the police.

18 Tajik students who traveled abroad to study at foreign religious schools later fought alongside Islamic  State (IS) militant group in Syria and were killed, Davlatov noted.

We will recall that the return of the Tajik students from Muslim countries began in August-September 2010 after President Emomali Rahmon said students at illegal Islamic schools too often “fall under the influence of extremists.”  Rahmon advised parents to bring their children back to Tajikistan.

In August 2010, President Emomali Rahmon warned that foreign religious schools are indoctrinating Tajik students with radical Islamist ideology, and urged parents of madrasah students to bring them home.