Wedding assault

In the family of Zidullo Khudoyaov, in the midst of the most, the final preparations for the wedding of his eldest daughter were in the midst of, when Tajik officials burst into the house. They “confiscated” most of the food prepared for the wedding feast, as they calculated the number of products “wasteful” and violating the “law on restriction of celebrations” recently adopted in the country.

“We managed to prevent an offense,” said Holmurod Ibrovimov , an official who took part in this raid on August 26 in the village of Dakhan on the outskirts of the city of Kulyab in the south of the country. “During the raid, we found that the family has prepared a wasteful number of products, such as different cakes and halva for celebration in the groom’s house,” Ibrovimov said on September 18, after what happened was spoke throughout the district. "We took this food and handed it to a psychiatric hospital in Kulyab."

The law on the restriction of the celebrations, known to everyone in Tajikistan, is simply as “Tanzim”, that is, “regulation”, was adopted back in 2007, by the will of the permanent president and the “leader of the nation” of Emomali Rahmon . He came to the conclusion that the costs of too frequent and abundant, in his opinion, wedding feasts and memorial dinners bring to poverty many families in this very poor of Central Asia.

Wedding in Tajikistan

The 44-year-old Zidullo Khudoyorov, the unemployed father of seven children, whose house officials came with a search, interrupted by random earnings. His whole family often depends on the crop of fruits and vegetables from his own garden and garden. Khudoyov is now trying to justify himself to the authorities, saying that he specially asked his wife and other relatives not to prepare a lot of food, which, according to local custom, the bride's family always sends to the groom's house before the wedding. Pridullo is also happy that he escaped a possible large fine for violating the law.

Now for such "offenders" as his family, a fine of $ 4,000 is provided. About 5700 dollars will have to pay to the treasury for those who came across a second time. In Tajikistan, where teachers and other civil servants receive about $ 150 a month, the government believes that such incredibly high fines will not allow people to violate the odious law.

Vladimir Putin visiting Emomali Rahmon. Dushanbe, February 2017

Despite the general low standard of living and enormous unemployment, Tajiks often organize crowded extravagant wedding celebrations that they can hardly afford. Families are saved for this for many years, and men go to work in Russia to raise money, for example, for the wedding of the child.

In August 2017, Emomali Rahmon ordered all local officials to explain the law on “regulation” and distribute his written copies in each household to eradicate long -standing traditions. At the end of August 2017, the Tajikistan parliament approved the next amendments aimed at expanding the "Law on Celebration Laws", introducing new restrictions. In particular, they prohibit many large traditional celebrations, such as registration of the named after a newborn, the first hairstyle of a child or circumcision of boyfriend boys. Instead, families are invited to open bank accounts for their children and spend money on their education and well -being.

Preparations for the wedding. Tajikistan, 2017

The amendments also strictly limit traditional feasts at the funeral and announce outlap the celebration of numerous anniversary of the death of relatives - for example, seven -day or six -month commemoration - to free families from financial burden.

Having returned the other day to Dahan after explaining with officials, where his daughter still recently married, Pridullo Khudoyorov gathered his neighbors and told them that his experience would "give an example to all families in the neighborhood."