Chaos and Killings
in Uzbekistan
After 16 years of the ruthless
rule of strongman Islam Karimov, after a series
of civilian protests and the success of some armed
protestors in breaking into a prison and setting
free 23 wealthy businessmen under trial for alleged
connection to an extremist Islamic organization,
along with a couple of thousand of other prisoners,
and after the massive massacre of hundreds of protesting,
unarmed civilians in the eastern city of Andijan,
Uzbekistan appears now headed towards an implosion,
unless the egocentric President quits and people’s
grievances are attended to.
President Karimov, 67, is a staunch ally of the
United States in the war on terror and has provided
a base for the stationing of US troops. But, he
has made little progress in improving the economy
despite the fact that Uzbekistan is rich in mineral
resources, including oil and gas. Poverty, unemployment
and a reign of terror are rankling the people. They
have reached a stage where they are more interested
in making a living than in pursuing any particular
ideology.
Almost 90 per cent of the 26 million Uzbeks are
Muslim with a past that they can be justifiably
proud of. Great commanders and empire builders such
as Taimur and Babar were from Farghana province
where Andijan, some 300 miles east of Tashkent,
the scene of the May 13 massacre is located. The
famous silk route connecting China to the Roman
empire went through this central Asian state with
the cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Tashkent, flourishing
as seats of learning and culture along the route.
Uzbekistan produced great intellectuals and writers
too. Interestingly, Karimov is also a writer, although
his fame or notoriety is based on his ham-handed
rule.
“I am prepared to rip off the head of 200
people, to sacrifice their lives, in order to maintain
peace and calm in the country…If my son chose
such a path, I myself would rip off his head”,
he is quoted as asserting. But, he has no son, only
two daughters. His elder daughter, Gulnara, is said
to have built an extensive business empire. He has
been ruling the country, the largest Central Asian
state with a population of over 26 million, since
it became independent in 1991 and has banned or
stifled opposition parties.
In the May 13 massacre at Andijan, the Uzbeck government
has put the number of those killed at 169 - a figure
below the 200 whose heads Karimov would gladly rip
off for the sake of peace. Independent sources have,
on the other hand, estimated that as many as 740
persons including women and children were indiscriminately
shot. Soldiers rushed the bodies to mass graves
while some corpses were removed and buried quickly
by relatives as required by their religion. Exact
figure of the dead is thus unavailable, but even
conservative estimates put the number at 500.
Five days after the massacre, the Uzbek authorities
allowed a team of UN officials, some foreign diplomats
and journalists to visit the site. But they were
not allowed to visit the school area in Andijan
where the crackdown took place. They were given
no chance “for security reasons” to
speak to the local people lest they found out what
actually happened. “There are too many criminals
around,” they pointed to the group.
But in this day and age, it is impossible to suppress
the smoke while igniting a fire. The Washington
Post of May 18, for instance, carried a detailed
story by its correspondent on the horrors experienced
by families caught in the crackdown. “The
refugees accounts of the violence and their escape,
which could not be independently verified, paint
a picture of a peaceful crowd of ordinary families
unexpectedly caught in a nightmarish ordeal”,
the Post reported.
Uzbek attorney general, with President Karimove
at his side, told a press conference, “Only
terrorists were liquidated by government forces”!
He forgot to add that they carried placards saying
“We are terrorists, kill us”.
Even the US State Department which normally stands
by its allies, felt constrained to fault the Uzbek
action. White House spokesman, Scott McClellan,
said: “We have had concerns about human rights
in Uzbekistan, but we are concerned about the outbreak
of violence, particularly by some members of a terrorist
organization that were freed from prison.”
The 23 under trial persons set free by a rebellious
crowd are reported to be wealthy businessmen who
financially supported a charity that might have
had links with Hizbut Tehrir, an organization banned
on suspicion of being Al Qaeda-friendly.
The accused and their followers, according to a
press report, were holding a demonstration to protest
against the false implication of the businessmen
in terrorist activities, growing poverty, unemployment,
corruption of the President’s family and friends,
and the frequent breakdown of electric power supply.
The crowd was expecting the President to visit them
to listen to their grievances; instead the soldiers
came and started firing at them.
President Karimov’s contention that they were
Islamic extremists bent on acts of terrorism on
the dictates of Al Qaeda is not supported by available
facts. He has been labeling the opposition to his
regime as having been sponsored by terrorists. And,
he has banned opposition parties.
Craig Murray, Britain’s former ambassador
to Uzbekistan, quit his job in October 2004 after
criticizing US support to the Uzbek rulers. “I
think”, he said, “the US policy is ridiculously
myopic in Uzbekistan; by supporting Karimov we are
creating an Islamic terrorist threat to the West
that did not exist before”. He further pointed
out that the Uzbek government was eager to produce
links between Muslim opposition and Al Qaeda to
justify the flow of US military aid and to imprison
thousands of people opposed to Karimov as being
pro-Al Qaeda.
New York Times correspondents who investigated the
situation in Uzbekistan and neighboring Kyrgystan
have in a lengthy dispatch to their paper, published
on May 17, recorded eyewitness accounts of the one-sided
violence and the indiscriminate firing at unarmed
civilians including women and children.
The report quoted Asam Turgunov, member of an opposition
party, as saying: “He (Karimov) lied brazenly
to his people. He will go down in history as a bloodthirsty
tyrant.”
No matter what the verdict of history on the character
of his regime, the time has come for him to quit
and for the West, the US in particular, to make
him quit. The earlier he goes, the better it would
be for the biggest Muslim state in Central Asia
and for its neighbors including Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
Uzbekistan is a partner of Pakistan in ECO and the
two countries have enjoyed exemplary relations in
the past. Even a week before the massacre at Andijan,
President Musharraf of Pakistan, on a visit to Tashkent,
assured Karimov “Pakistan will not allow the
use of its soil by any terrorists from Uzbekistan
… and we will act against them”. He
signed an agreement with Uzbekistan on fighting
terrorism. But there was no commitment to support
President Karimov in his maneuverings to retain
himself in the seat of power by hook or crook.
(arifhussaini@hotmail.com
May 19, 2005)
