Up to 500 Dead in Uzbekistan

Up to 500 Dead in Uzbekistan





Protesters in the Uzbek town of Andijan cover up the bodies of men who died of soldiers’ fire. Human rights groups say that up to 500 people were killed in the turmoil. Photo by aljazeera.com

Politics: 14 May 2005, Saturday.

Up to 500 people have been killed in the recent turmoil in Andijan, an eastern Uzbek town, human rights organizations said Saturday.

Meanwhile, President Islam Karimov accused a radical Islamic group of starting the unrest to spark an uprising.

On Friday, soldiers opened fire on the crowd of about 2,000 demonstrators in Andijan.



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http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=47703

Whom Bush supports in Uzbekistan ? ...

How many new US military bases are being built there ? ...

How many US military bases are being shut down in the US ?

Nuff said ...

Islam Karimov
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Islam KarimovIslam Abduganievich Karimov (in Uzbek actual Islom Karimov) (born January 30, 1938) is the President of Uzbekistan (since 1991).

Karimov was born in Samarkand and raised in a Soviet state orphanage. After studying engineering and economics in Tashkent, he became an official in the Communist Party.

He came to power as the party's First Secretary in Uzbekistan in 1989. On March 24, 1990 Karimov became President of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. He declared the independence of Uzbekistan on August 31, 1991 and won elections held on December 29 of that year with 86% of the vote. The elections have been called unfair, with state-run propaganda and a falsified vote count, although the opposing candidate and leader of the Erk (http://www.uzbekistanerk.org) (Freedom) Party, Muhammad Solih, had a chance to participate. Shortly after the elections, a harsh political clampdown forced opposition leaders into exile, while many have been issued long-term prison sentences and a few have disappeared.

In 1995, Karimov extended his term until 2000 through a widely criticized referendum, and he was reelected with 91.9% of the vote on January 9, 2000. The United States said that this election "was neither free nor fair and offered Uzbekistan's voters no true choice" <1> (http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/election/uzbekistan/bbu260100.htm). The sole opposition candidate, Abdulhasiz Dzhalalov, admitted that he had only entered the race to make it appear to be a democratic contest and that he had actually cast his own vote for Karimov. On January 27, 2002, Karimov won another referendum extending the length of presidential terms from five to seven years; Karimov's present term, formerly due to end in 2005, was subsequently extended by parliament, which scheduled the next elections for December 2007.



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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_Karimov

Should there be any more massive protest marches on Washington ...anti-Bush or anti-war, this could happen here. the RW is getting desperate. Their world crumbling around them (and us). They will do anything to shift blame and hold onto power.

Uzbekistan on the brink as clashes spread

Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Sunday May 15, 2005
The Observer

The violence that has reportedly killed hundreds of protesters in eastern Uzbekistan appeared to be spreading to neighbouring towns last night, raising fears that the volatile Central Asian state could erupt into a full-scale revolution.
As human rights workers in the flashpoint town of Andijan warned that the death toll there could reach 500, an official from the neighbouring country of Kyrgyzstan said sporadic rioting had broken out in the border town of Karasu, with government buildings and police cars on fire and military helicopters circling overhead.

One local official was reported by the Russian Interfax news agency to have been heavily beaten by rioters. The Uzbek President, Islam Karimov, claimed that troops had opened fire on protesters in Andijan only when they were advanced on.

Visibly angry, he told reporters in the capital, Tashkent: 'I know that you want to know who gave the order to fire at them ... No one ordered to fire at them.' He said 10 soldiers were killed in the clash and 'many more' protesters.




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http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1484252,00.html

Oh, but if the protesters succeed in toppling the government (as I certainly hope), they'll suddenly be embraced as furthering freedom and it all will have been the result of Iraq. :eyes:

Then we might have to invade and "liberate," you know.

That's what I wonder? How did it happen and why is it so bad? What set them off?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1468023

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1468390

The demonstrators demanded "justice, freedom and democracy" and the Bush administration asked them to "exercise restraint" while they were being massacred.

:puke:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1484865,00.html#article_continue


~snips~

The authorities have remained highly suspicious of any Islamist or opposition activity in the area. Since 1998 they have focused on Hizb-ut Tahrir, an Islamic group whose members were labelled as "terrorists" by Mr Karimov and blamed for a series of bombings in the country. As part of the crackdown, 7,000 people are believed to have been imprisoned and there are an estimated 600 political arrests a year.

Recently the authorities widened their focus to include the Muslim group Akramiya, which appears to base its ideology more on economics than religious dogma. The arrest of 23 of its members sparked Friday's unrest in Andijan. Alison Gill, Human Rights Watch's representative in Uzbekistan, said: "They are still going after Hizb-ut Tahrir, but they do seem to be casting the net wider, and Akramiya are getting swept up in that." The trial of the 23 Andijan businessmen began in February, but last week sparked wide protests in the town that led to its delay. The defendants also went on hunger strike.

Akramism was founded by a maths teacher, Akram Yuldashev, whose 1992 pamphlet, entitled The Way to Sacred Islam, led to his repeated arrest and jailing. The government claimed that Akramiya was an extremist group with ties to Hizb-ut Tahrir. Yet others have claimed that Akramiya is a splinter group from Hizb-ut Tahrir which tried to stop young people from joining the latter organisation. Akramiya suggests that economic success and prosperity is the key to an Islamic way of life, and that part of business profits should be diverted to help the poor.

Local media reported that the 23 businessmen had set up a construction company to give local people jobs, yet they were quickly arrested.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think that it's obviously to Karimov's and the USA's advantage if they make this whole thing appear to be "terrorist" driven and painting it as Islamist extremism or Taliban-like fanaticism or even better, al-Qaida influenced, simply draws attention away from the oppressive agenda and human rights violations we have been "propping up" thru our support of Uzbekistan policies. As the former UK ambassador to Tashkent, Craig Murray, said in that article, "I know these people and have met them. They do not have a particularly strong Islamic bent and are more interested in greater economic freedom. They are Turkey, not the Taliban."

Uzbek border town set ablaze amid fear, riots
Los Angeles Times

Sunday, May 15, 2005

MOSCOW — Thousands of residents fleeing a bloody crackdown against protests in an eastern Uzbek city gathered Saturday in a nearby border town where rioting erupted amid fears of another assault by government troops.

Police stations, tax offices, the prosecutor's office and the customs terminal were set ablaze in the town of Korasuv, on the border of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported.

About 5,000 people had fled there Saturday from Andijon, 30 miles to the west, it said. Hundreds more fled to at least one other border-crossing site.

The violence in Korasuv was apparently triggered, at least in part, by anger that the border had been officially closed.




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http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/world/epaper/2005/05/15/a3a_uzbek_0515.html

CHRONOLOGY-A history of violence in Uzbekistan since 1989
15 May 2005 11:23:29 GMT

Source: Reuters

ANDIZHAN, Uzbekistan, May 15 (Reuters) - Hundreds of people are feared to have died in the Central Asian state of Uzbekistan when troops cracked down on protesters and rebels in the eastern town of Andizhan.

If casualty figures are confirmed, the Andizhan unrest would be the worst violence in Uzbekistan's post-Soviet history under the rule of autocratic President Islam Karimov.

Following is a chronology of major political events in Uzbekistan since Karimov assumed leadership of the Uzbek Communist Party in 1989:

1989 - Islam Karimov, the orphan son of a Tajik mother and Uzbek father, becomes leader of Uzbek Communist Party.




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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1543394.htm

Uzbekistan lashes out at Straw
15/05/2005 17:06 - (SA)




Related Articles
300 bodies taken from Andijan

Uzbekistan gripped by unrest

Uzbek people 'living like dirt'




Tashkent - Uzbekistan on Sunday firmly rejected foreign criticism of its troops' bloody suppression of an uprising in the east of the country, denying that the soldiers had opened fire on demonstrators.

Witnesses said hundreds were killed on Friday when soldiers fired on protesters outside the local administration building in the city of Andijan.

The Uzbek foreign ministry issued a statement expressing surprise about critical statements by British foreign secretary Jack Straw, "who, being thousands of kilometres away from Andijan, was so well aware of the details of the clashes in that city."

"From where has Jack Straw learned that law enforcement had 'opened fire on demonstrators' if that did not take place at all,"' the ministry said.




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http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1705362,00.html

Shot down, ‘like rabbits’




Relatives of a victim carry his coffin in Andizhan. (Reuters)

Andizhan (Uzbekistan), May 15 (Reuters): Families of hundreds killed in Uzbekistan when troops opened fire to quell protests buried their dead today as witnesses told of bloody mayhem in which women and children were shot “like rabbits”.

In a single incident in Andizhan on Friday, witnesses said soldiers had fired on a crowd including women and children and their own police comrades who were begging them not to shoot.

Hundreds of bodies lay overnight outside the eastern town’s School No. 15 after the massacre until they were removed in the early hours yesterday, the witnesses, who did not wish to be named, said.

Islam Karimov, autocratic President of the mainly Muslim Central Asian state, said troops were given no order to fire in Andizhan. He blamed the violence on rebels belonging to the outlawed Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. Hizb ut-Tahrir denied involvement.




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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050516/asp/foreign/story_4745340.asp

Sounds like Saddam....maybe worse?

Right?



Right?



Mass graves, slaughter... must be stopped right?

must be dealt with before the oil drilling equipment and the pipeline building equipment can be brought in and put to work! Bush and his close friends there in Uzbekistan must make the place secure for big oil! Our new bases will guard the big oil companies investments, at our expense, once the drilling starts! We will fight around the globe to protect the petrol-banker's property! The super-bankers will reap the HUGE profits and raise the prices at the pumps, on we who pay for their security abroad! Part of the neocon plan that the people voted for in November! It's CALLED "MORALITY"!

The crushing grip of a ruthless long-time ruler

CALUM MACDONALD May 16 2005




LITTLE has changed in Uzbekistan since the collapse of communism and the break-up of the old Soviet Union, least of all the man in charge.
Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan's autocratic president, has dominated the central Asian republic since 1989, when he took over as leader of the communist party.
The following year he became president and has since retained a firm grip on power.
The orphan son of a Tajik mother and Uzbek father, his rule has been characterised by oppression, torture, human rights abuses and a failing economy.
Mr Karimov, 67, is from the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan and is an economist by profession. During the days of Soviet Uzbekistan he served as finance minister, one of several senior government posts he held.




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http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/39344.html

16.05 / 08:33 Hizb-ut Tahrir villains involved in Andijan (Uzbekistan) events
ANDIJAN. May 16. KAZINFORM. /Rasul Bakhamov/ - One of the main forces which organized the assault upon administrative premises in the city of Andijan, Uzbekistan,
capture of arms and hostages turned to be one of the Hizb-urt Tahrir branches, Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov announced. Besides international terrorists’ actions can also be traced in Andijan events, Kazinform correspondent reports from Uzbekistan.
Islam Karimov referring to the official bodies’ data told that a group of 30 armed criminals assaulted the building of patrol service and military servicemen of the 34th military brigade. 9 guards were shot. Having seized the armament and military track the criminals attacked the building of the labor improvement colony and set free about 600 people.
Assaults upon the buildings of the city department of international security, Andijan oblast National Security Council and oblast hokimiyat followed afterwards. The evil-doers captured about 20 hostages.
Karimov said the negotiations with the criminals which had been lasting since the morning gave no results. The authorities offered them to refuse from the armed actions and exit from the city unimpeded. The offenders however forwarded inadmissible terms – to release a group of prisoners and received refusal.




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http://www.inform.kz/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=123002