March 26, 2003

Tajik police arrested 16 male and female high school students for distributing pamphlets advocating radical Islam. Police are also searching for members of the radical Islamic group Hizbi Tahrir, who gave the students the literature and convinced them to distribute it. The Central Asian nations that used to be part of the Soviet Union are run by dictators and run badly. People seeking reform are increasingly attracted to radical Islamic calls for a central Asian Islamic Republic and many economic reforms.