Tajikistan shaves 13,000 beards in 'radicalism' battle

Police in Tajikistan shaved nearly 13 thousand people's beards and closed more than 160 shops selling traditional Muslim clothing last year as part of the country's fight against what it calls foreign influences.  

Bahrom Sharifzoda, the head of the south-west Khathlon region's police, said at a press conference yesterday that the law enforcement services convinced more than 1,700 women and girls to stop wearing headscarves in the Muslim-majority Central Asian country.  

The move is seen as part of efforts to battle what authorities deemed radicalism. Tajikistan's secular leadership has long sought to prevent a spillover of what it sees as unwelcome traditions from neighbouring Afghanistan.


ALJAZEERA