A campaign on fingerprinting of nationals aged 16 and over has been launched in Tajikistan.  The campaign is being carried out in the framework of a special operation, dubbed “Purge.”

“The operation is being carried out by the Interior Ministry in cooperation with other relevant bodies,” Umarjon Emomali, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told Asia-Plus in an interview.

“Currently, the fingerprinting registration campaign is being carried out in Vahdat, Roudaki and Hisor,” said Emomali.  “Later, the campaign will cover the whole country.”

According to him, the fingerprinting registration is not free; “those fingerprinted will pay 4.00 somoni (equivalent to 0.5 U.S. dollar – Asia-Plus) for the procedure itself and 1.00 somoni for certificate, which is issued to those who wish.”

“The fingerprinting registration is not a compulsory procedure but it is now impossible to get documents in the country without this registration,” Emomali added.

Tajikistan adopted the law on the fingerprinting registration in 1999.