DUSHANBE, June 6, 2014, Asia-Plus – A video posted on YouTube shows a woman who introduced herself as Tojikhon Poulodova, ex-head of the Islamic Revival Party (IRP)’s primary organization in the Kolkand jamoat, Isfara in the northern Sughd province.

Ms. Poulodova calls on Tajik women not to join the Islamic Revival Party.  According to her, she joined the party in 2000 and she was elected to local council in 2003.  She says that she left the IRP with all her subordinates in 2005.

However, they still say that she is the chairperson of IRP’s organization in Kolkand.  Ms. Poulodova denies this and says that residents of her native village have left the Islamic Revival Party.

She called on all Tajik mothers to refrain from joining any political party “because all of them think only about their careers and seats in the government.”

Founded in October 1990, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan was registered on December 4, 1991.  It was banned by the Supreme Court in June 1993 and legalized in August 1999.  Its official newspaper is Najot (Salvation).  The IRP now has more than 41,000 members.  It won two seats in the 2010 parliamentary elections.  The Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan is the only Islamic party registered in CIS Central Asia.  Current chairman of the IRP is Muhiddin Kabiri.

According to some sources, women now constitute more than 51 percent of the Islamic Revival Party members.