DUSHANBE, August 28, Asia-Plus – The Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan has reportedly repaired communication lines in Khorog that were allegedly damaged on July 24, 2012.  The mobile communications services were restored in Khorog only on August 25.

“The Communications service agency and the mobile communications service providers have managed to remove damage,” Rafiqjon Shokirov, the deputy head of the Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus in an interview.

Shokirov, however, refused to answer the question about an amount paid for replacement of the damaged cables.

The mobile communications service providers Tcell and Beeline have informed their clients that the mobile communications service have been restored in Gorno Badakhshan and apologized for the caused inconvenience.

Meanwhile, a group of Facebook users in Tajikistan yesterday offered to boycott local mobile communications service providers on September 2, when it will be the 40th day since the tragic events occurred in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO).

Users of the social networking service note that many people were left wondering about their families and relatives for a month because mobile communications in Gorno Badakhshan were cut off.

“During this month, no one of top managers of the mobile communications service providers deigned to make a public statement and apologize to the people, whom they left alone with their grief,” the Facebook users.

“Half an hour of silence is a kind of boycott against the mobile communications service providers that cut off communications service in the whole Gorno Badakhshan without judicial decision, as the country’s legislation requires.  It is the direct violation of human rights.”

A group of users of Facebook in Tajikistan offer residents of Tajikistan to switch off their mobile phones for half an hour as a token of solidarity with those who lost their relatives in Khorog 40 days ago.

We will recall that communication lines to Gorno Badakhshan were cut off on the early morning of July 24, when a special operation was launched in Khorog.

The communications service agency attributed the shutdown of communications services in Gorno Badakhshan to a stray bullet hitting a telephone line.  The fixed-line communications were restored in the area on July 28 and mobile communications services were restored in Khorog only on August 25.