Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

November 4, 2008, Asia-Plus - On Monday November 3, His Highness the Aga Khan attended the groundbreaking ceremony for construction of the Ismaili Cultural-Educational Center, Jamatkhana, in Khorog, Gorno Badakhshan. Speaking at the ceremony, the Aga Khan said that the Center should promote combining efforts to develop mutual understanding and stability in the region.

THE RECENT DEATH of Ronald Reagan led many in the West to celebrate once again the fall of the Soviet Union 13 years ago. But in Khorog, a town of around 25,000 on the Tajik-Afghan border, that historic event is remembered with less happy feelings. Abandoned cranes, half-finished cement buildings and the hulls of Soviet tanks all hark back to an era when subsidies ran rich to this distant corner of Moscow's empire and supplies were trucked in without consequence of cost. 'Life was very good here during Soviet times,' explains Yorali, a local artist.

American authorities predicted a sharp decrease in drug trafficking after the eradication of Afghanistan's Taliban regime - known to feed its activities by selling opiates abroad. But its northern neighbour, Tajikistan, knows better.
Months after the ouster of the hardline Afghan regime, trafficking in heroin - dubbed 'white death' in Tajikistan - is far from eradicated.

'We evaluate that there has been a 13 to 15 per cent increase in drug trafficking since the beginning of the US intervention in Afghanistan,' said Abai Iugochev, head of press relations for the Tajik Drug Control Agency.

DUSHANBE, June 1, 2009, Asia-Plus — Prince Rahim Aga Khan, first son of His Highness the Aga Khan, Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, is arriving in Tajikistan tomorrow on a three-day working visit, the MFA information department reported.

During his stay in Tajikistan, Prince Rahim will review programs of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Tajikistan. Prince Rahim is also expected to hold talks with a number of Tajik state officials, the MFA information department said.

Prince rahim is in Khorog Today. People were very excited and despite the rain people were running up and down the city.

SPEECH BY H.H. PRINCE KARIM AGA KHAN
FOUNDATION STONE LAYING CEREMONY OF THE THE ISMAILI JAMATKHANA AND CENTRE, KHOROG, TAJIKISTAN

Monday, 3 November 2008

Bismillahir Rahamanir Rahim

Your Excellency Deputy Prime Minister Asadullah Ghulomov,
Your Excellency Governor Qodiri Qosim,
Your Excellency Governor Munshi Abdul Majeed,
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentleman