I almost got arrested in Tajikistan.
On my last day in Dushanbe, I visited the National Museum of Tajikistan. Across the pond from the museum was a Tajikistan flagpole (165 meters, the 2nd tallest free-standing flagpole in the world). Next to the flagpole was the White House, where the President of Tajikistan lives. Being curious as always, I took photos of the museum, the flagpole, and the White House. As I was walking away from the White House, I got stopped by two men in casual attires (jeans and button-down shirts). They came out of their old sedan that looked just like any car on the road, showed me their police badges, and started talking to me in Tajik. They spoke no English but from their body languages I understood that they wanted to see my passport, phone, and camera. I hesitated but because they did show me their police badges it might not be wise to resist. So I handed one of them my passport, while the other browsed through the photos on my phone. After a minute or so, they walked back to their car with my passport and phone, signaling me to get into their car – But I refused. They didn’t dress like the police, didn’t drive a police car, and I had no idea whether their police badges were real. I asked them to give me back my items, while they insisted to have me sit into their car – My main issue was that I needed to find out whether they are real police before I felt comfortable getting into their car. So I pointed to the security guards outside the White House and requested to speak with them. The police agreed, and we walked toward the guards at the White House. The guards didn’t speak English neither, but after seeing the police badges they nodded to confirm that the two were in fact real police. At that point I didn’t have other option but to follow them to their car.
While sitting in the car, one of them carefully flipped through every single page of my passport, while the other browsed through every single photo in my camera. He found two photos of the White House in my camera, and told me that it is not allowed to take photos of the White House. I told them that I didn’t know, and he proceeded to delete the two photos. For the next 30 minutes, I was sitting in the car being asked all sorts of questions, mainly to confirm my identity as a tourist. We didn’t speak the same language so there were all kinds of body languages going on in the car. Finally they called my hostel and confirmed that I was a legit guest at the hostel. Soon after they gave back my items and let me go.
Lesson learned: Just because it is okay to take photos of the White House in my own country doesn’t mean it is okay to do the same elsewhere. Be sensitive with taking photos and conform with local norms. I was lucky that they were good police and were never too forceful (well, forceful enough to have me hand in my passport, but never forceful in a way that I felt threatened). Otherwise this could have been a much messier situation.
P.S. Since my phone failed and I spent half of my time in Tajikistan trying to rescue it and get it up and running, unfortunately I did not get to go to a lot of places; I also was not able to stay longer because my Google Fi SIM card had no coverage in Tajikistan and I desperately needed its US phone number to handle some business. Otherwise most people who visit Tajikistan visit the Pamir Mountains, a 12-hour shared ride from Dushanbe.
#Tajikistan
