Uzbek border guards give no information about missing Tajik

DUSHANBE, January 12, 2012, Asia-Plus -- The whereabouts of a Tajik citizen detained by the Uzbek military last month remains unknown, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports.

Colonel Sharif Nazarov, the police chief in Tajikistan's northern Sughd province, said Hamzaali Khidirov was reportedly detained after crossing into Uzbekistan during a hunting trip.

Nazarov said the Uzbek authorities have not provided any information about Khidirov.

But villagers in Sarvak, which borders on the Pop district of Uzbekistan's Namangan province, told RFE/RL on January 10 that a group of Uzbek border guards and officers in military uniforms detained Khidirov at his home on December 23.

They said the men searched his home and confiscated a hunting gun allegedly belonging to Khidirov's friend in Uzbekistan.

Iqbol Nuriddinov, a relative of Khidirov, told RFE/RL that Khidirov is a shepherd who sometimes goes on hunting trips with a friend who lives in Uzbekistan.

Nuriddinov said that on December 23 Khidirov was detained after returning home from such a hunting trip.

He said the family wants to find out where Khidirov is but are afraid to travel to Uzbekistan and make inquiries.