Nasimjon Qosimov from the Roudaki district was grabbed and forced into the army on his 18th birthday

“They have broken a door lock, burst into the apartment, twisted Nasimjon and taken him away,” Nasim’s junior brother, Naim, told Asia-Plus in an interview.

The 12-year-old teen couldn't hold back the tears and couldn’t recover for a long time.

Their neighbors were also in shock and could not stop the raiders.  By the way, the neighbors recognized them as employees of jamoat.  One of them was a woman, the neighbors said.  

Nasimjon has already been assigned to the service.  According to his parents, Nasim has been sent to serve in the border troops. 

Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported last month that young Tajik men are being taken from the streets by people in plain clothes and sent to serve in the army for two years. Sometimes, the men are taken without any prior notice.

Thus, Kholmahmad Mirzoyev was reportedly taken from his home near Dushanbe on October 7.  His mother says they were not hiding him from the draft ad he had received no conscription papers.  According to her, they have received notice for his elder brother, who is now working abroad.  The woman says she was assaulted during her son’s detention.

Muhammad Jamshedzoda’s grandmother says he was stanched from the work.  She says he looks after her, which means that he cannot be drafted.  She went to the recruiting station and showed them papers proving that he cannot be enlisted.  But they even did not let her see her grandson.

Detentions like these are illegal according to Tajik law.  Those who avoid draft should face trial instead.

The Tajik Defense Ministry says it is not directly involved.  “Conscription is responsibility of local commissions in cities and districts.   They do all the work, we just assist them,” Orif Nozimov, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense (MoD), told RFE/RL last month. 

The autumn conscription campaign is carried out from October 1 through November, and the draft affects able-bodied male citizens in the age bracket of 18 years old to 27 years old who are not members of the armed forces reserve.

The two-month-long effort seeking to enlist young men aged 18-27 for the two-year compulsory military service takes place twice a year, in the spring and in the autumn.  According to the Ministry of Defense, every year, some 15,000-16,000 young Tajik men are drafted into the country’s armed forces. 

Some sources say more than 600,000 young men in Tajikistan are eligible for military service, but some 150,000 of them have received draft deferments or are exempted from the military service and some 100,000 other conscript-age young Tajiks are outside the country in search of a living.

Young Tajiks can avoid or postpone military service if they are ill, studying at university, an only son, or if they have two children.

Tajikistan’s armed forces consist of Ground Forces, Mobile Forces (paratroopers of the armed forces of Tajikistan), Air Force and Air Defense Force.