Kyrgyzstan blames Tajikistan for breaking 3 intl treaties in Saturday gunfire incident at border
BISHKEK/OSH. Jan 15 (Interfax) - The Kyrgyz parliament believes Tajikistan violated three international treaties in a January 11 gunfire incident at the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, Kanybek Imanaliyev, the head of the parliamentary international affairs committee, told journalists on Wednesday.
These treaties include the "the UN Convention of 1979 [sic] on the unacceptability of the use of weapons, and there is also a bilateral agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and a tripartite agreement between Kyrgyzstan, China, and Tajikistan on inviolability of borders and security of peaceful civilians," he said.
"Notes of protest on these matters have already been forwarded to Tajikistan," he said.
Kyrgyz parliamentarians gathered behind closed doors on Wednesday to consider the incident near the village of Ak-Sai in the Batken region in southern Kyrgyzstan, in which six Kyrgyz servicemen suffered serious wounds.
Kyrgyzstan blames Tajik border guards for the incident, believing that they also tried to block the construction of a road bypassing the Tajik enclave of Vorukh.
The Kyrgyz parliamentary secretariat told Interfax that the text of the meeting's resolution has been labeled 'for service use' and will not be published. However, several parliamentarians told journalists that the resolution is based on a decision by the parliamentary security committee.
The committee believes that, to normalize the situation at the border, the two countries should be guided by international treaties, continue the border's delimitation and demarcation, ensure security of the residents of the border areas in case of some incidents, and comply with some other provisions, including those regulating the presence of heavily-armed military units near the borderline.
Kyrgyz State Border Service spokesperson Gulmira Borubayeva told Interfax on Wednesday that the situation at the Kyrgyz-Tajik border near the village of Ak-Sai was "relatively stable."
"The checkpoints at the border with Tajikistan remain closed, the border is being guarded in an alerted mode, and the border guards have enough forces and resources to prevent the conflict's escalation," she said.
Representatives of the Kyrgyz and Tajik Security Councils and Border Services are meeting in Tajikistan's Isfara on Wednesday to discuss the situation at the border and joint measures to normalize it, Borubayeva said.
Local authorities said no concentration of people has been recorded in the border areas, and Kyrgyzstan is continuing the construction of the road bypassing Vorukh and connecting Ak-Tash and Kok-Sai.