Five years ago today, Dilorom Abdukadirova, 44,
managed to escape the heavy spray of bullets in her native Uzbek city of
Andijan. On that day, government troops shot and killed
hundreds of civilian protesters on the orders of President Islam Karimov. Leaving behind her husband and four children,
Abdukadirova found a refuge in Australia, where she counted the days until she
could again embrace her family.
History seemed to repeat itself this week in the mountainous Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan. For the second time in five years, angry protesters—ignored and suppressed by a corrupt government—ousted yet another president.
Having suppressed independent journalism relatively completely in the country, the authoritarian Uzbek regime has now turned to other sectors of society it perceives as threatening to its ideology. State appointed so-called “experts” on undefined Uzbek national traditions are being dispatched on a witch hunt against independent-minded individuals, including a filmmaker and an anti-HIV/AIDS activist. This dangerous policy is in full swing at home but has been concealed from the world ever since
Addressing the joint session of In his speech, available on the parliament’s Web site, Karimov, at left, said the legislative body should strengthen its control over the executive branch of the government, and added that the success of this process largely depends on “active participation of mass media.”
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