Uzbekistan scene

Both the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and Hizbit-Tahrir have denied any involvement.

All the attacks seem to be directed at police. The police are widely seen as the main instrument of government in Uzbekistan and are very much disliked and feared.

The British Ambassador in Tashkent has created a political furore by his remark that the repressive regime of Karimov is responsible for the backlash.

There is a renewed fear in Tashkent that the government will use this pretext to persecute Muslims and clamp down on religious practices. The five year campaign by the Uzbek government has led to the persecution of some 7,000 non violent Muslims as well as Muslim dissidents.

Mr. Karimov, who ruled Uzbekistan as party leader before the 1991 Soviet collapse and since then as President, has come under sharp criticism by human rights advocates for repressing political and religious freedom. Uzbekistan came into prominence shortly after September 11, when Karimov allowed the US and its allies to base at least 1,000 troops in his country with the tacit approval of President Putin. Uzbekistan, otherwise a poor country, is strategically located with borders with Afghanistan.

By ignoring the human rights violations of the Karimov government, the Americans are making a big mistake and this will lead to a more explosive and hostile situation. According to a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, US policy-makers will be making a grave mistake if they allow shared goals in the war on terror to blind us to the short-sighted and potentially dangerous policies that are being pursued with regard to religion.