DUSHANBE (Reuters):

Tajikistan is launching a crackdown on witchcraft and fortune-telling as part of an anti-poverty drive after earlier banning lavish weddings and expensive funerals.

Occultism is on the rise in Muslim Tajikistan. It is the poorest nation in ex-Soviet Central Asia, borders Afghanistan and was ravaged by a 1992-97 civil war. Queues to see sorcerers are often longer than those for regular doctors.

"Those indulging in sorcery and fortune-telling shall be fined between 30 and 40 times the minimum monthly wage ($173 to $231)," says the text of a draft law backed by the lower chamber of the Tajik parliament yesterday and obtained by Reuters.