DUSHANBE, April 27, 2011, Asia-Plus -- The Republican Center for Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision at the Ministry of Health is checking sanitary standards in mosques as in other public places, Kholmahmad Nazarov, the deputy head of Tajikistan’s sanitary watchdog, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, these inspections are a common practice and they are conducted in mosques in all regions of the country.  “Such inspections dedicated to ensure sanitary and epidemiological safety citizens visiting public places were conducted before as well and they do not impede activity of mosques,” Nazarov stressed.   

Inspections conducted in mosques in Kulob region are also dedicated to ensure sanitary and epidemiological safety of parishioners, the sanitary watchdog officials added.

The deputy head of the Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA), Mavlon Mukhtorov, noted that city and district centers for sanitary and epidemiological supervision conducted those inspections that were a common practice and were not aimed at restricting activities of mosques.

“Under Sharia praying places, in particular mosques, must be kept clean,” Mukhtorov stressed, noting that while registering mosques CRA also takes into account sanitary standards.

On the inspections in mosques in Khatlon’s Kulob region, Mukhtorov said that those inspections were in competence of the Republican Center for Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision and CRA had not thing to do with them.

Meanwhile, some media outlets report that some local experts say that the inspections may prevent mosques from functioning normally.

We will recall that Kulob authorities have begun checking sanitary standards in local mosques; purification rooms, prayer halls, and lawns surrounding mosque buildings are being inspected.