Diplomatic milestone achieved in Central Asia

Deal of the century: Rahmon (left) sealing the historic agreement with Japarov on March 13. — AFP

PICTURE this: two leaders, once divided by a blood-stained border, clasping hands at a peace summit and decisively inking what has been dubbed the “deal of the century” – a pact that not only properly charts a once elusive and fought-over frontier but also buries a century-old Soviet curse.

It might sound like fiction, but this is real. On March 13, in a historic meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, President Sadyr Japarov of Kyrgyzstan and President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan affixed their signatures to a landmark agreement meticulously delineating the 970km boundary between the two countries that had defied clarity for years, thus ending a chaotic era of tension that fuelled conflict and unrest across Central Asia’s complex ethnic and geographic landscape.