President Pratibha Patil arrived in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Sunday in what is the first visit by an Indian head of state to any former Soviet republic in Central Asia.

During her two-day visit, she will be a guest for Tajikistan’s national day celebrations, the first foreign leader invited for the

occasion, and pay a visit to the mausoleum of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, a Sufi scholar who visited Kashmir in the 14th century.

Unlike the other “stans” that were once part of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan is not endowed with natural gas and oil reserves. It is, however, a territory which a large number of regional and global powers are wooing with offers of aid and cooperation that it can be considered to be at the heart of a new great game. Its geography puts it astride the trade routes from Central Asia to South Asia and China. And Tajikistan’s location makes its coordinates important in many countries’ visions of strategic assurance. So, it is here that India, the US, Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan zoom in to affirm economic, cultural, strategic and political common interests.

India’s relations with Tajikistan date right back to its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. They built upon the general goodwill New Delhi enjoyed with all the constituents of the Soviet Union, but the support offered to the Tajik dominated Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. It is also a relationship buoyed by extensive bilateral visits. As prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Dushanbe in November 2003, and Tajik president Emomali Rahmon has been in India four times.

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