QURGHON-TEPPA, Tajikistan -- The leader of the women's part of an Islamic political party in Tajikistan has said that a conference for women's rights activists was blocked by a trade union.
Khayriniso Saidova, women's leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) in Khatlon Province, told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that despite a previous agreement, a local trade union did not allow them to hold a conference for some 150 women activists in Qurghon-Teppa.
The IRP's leader in Khatlon, Qalandar Sadiridinzoda, said the legally registered party does not need additional permission to hold seminars and it had recently invited the province's governor to take part in a conference on Imam Abu Hanifa.
Muhabbatshoh Sharifov, a representative of the local administration, said the provincial government did not ban the conference.