In a speech to the National Security Committee (NSC) in February, Mr Rahmon urged increased measures against the remaining 1,250 mosques (out of a total of nearly 5,000) that are unregistered. The number of mosques in Tajikistan exceeds the 3,800 schools in the country. According to Mr Rahmon, it is in the unregistered mosques and their unchecked sermons and imams (Muslim clergy) that radicalism can take root. He even referred to the "events in Rasht"-when a large number of government troops were killed in an ambush (December 2010, The political scene)-as having been the result of lax government control over mosques. The government's Committee on Religious Affairs has instructed mosques on the topics of legitimate discussion in sermons, having compiled a list of 52 topics related to morality and "conventional" Islamic values, in an effort to ensure that sermons do not stray into "radical" or political matters. Among other things, the committee has instructed that sermons after Friday prayers cannot exceed 15 minutes.

The most influential imam in Tajikistan, Ishoni Nurridin, is thought to have been forced to resign in January through pressure from the security services, under the threat of arrest if he continued with his critical and popular Friday sermons. The draft of a new law on parental responsibilities prohibits the attending of mosques and churches by children under the age of 18. Furthermore, the government is promoting its version of Hanafi Sunni Islam in the country's schools, including in regions dominated by non-Hanafis, such as the Pamirs, where nearly 100% of the population are members of the Shia Ismaili branch of Islam. However, the government's heavy-handed tactics to control radicalism, including the imposition of severe limitations on ordinary religious practice, and the arrest and imprisonment of alleged Islamists, carries a risk that it will prompt a backlash and serve only to increase the appeal of radical Islam.