Mr Rakhimov said he was a simple farmerThis item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/625
Muslims outraged over Koranic flush hoax deafeningly silent on deaths of hundreds of their coreligionists
May 18, 2005
MIM: According to BBC news reports - the death toll in the Uzbek unrest was between 200 and 500 people , Military and civilians put the toll at over 500. The government version of events, recounted by American ally president Islam Karimov, is that Islamists associated with Hizb ut Tahrir released more then 600 people from prison (as part of a raid to spring 23 Islamist businessmen) and seized weapons from an arsenal.
It is unclear whether local people joined the Islamists or used the chaos to state demonstrations of their own. As the facts begin to emerge one thing is certain. Despite newspaper and television accounts which were accompanied by pictures of corpses and streets running with blood not a word of outrage or protest was heard from fellow Muslims who had taken to the streets worldwide to protest a retracted rumor about a Koran being put in a toilet in Gitmo. Another sign that the Muslim anger at the Koran story is being used to assert power, by forcing officials of the strongest country to apologise and show deference to what people like Condoleeza Rice publicly referred to in a strategic blunder to appease Muslims, as "the holy Koran ". This groveling has only encouraged Muslims to stage more protests and increase their demands that the US 'make amends' for something that never happened. Indeed, the non incident has taken on a life of it's own and is a case study in mass hysteria and conspiracy theory.http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5014088,00.html
-------------------------------------------------------------
MIM: Simple farmers or aligned with Hizb ut Tahrir ?
MIM:Despite presenting themselves as 'simple folk' who 'who just want to be free' and(paradoxically) live according to Islamic law, the seeming idyll of this Uzbek town provides the ideal facade for the political aspirations of Hizb ut Tahrir and other groups seeking to make Uzbekistan into an Islamic country.
|
Mr Rakhimov said he was a simple farmer |
The people of Korasuv
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4558759.stm
Uzbek rebel spells out aims
| By Ian MacWilliam In Korasuv, Uzbek-Kyrgyz border |
Bakhtior Rakhimov said that the town's people would take charge of local government and that they were willing to fight for freedom if necessary.
Mr Rakhimov, a farmer from a prominent local clan, said people could no longer tolerate President Islam Karimov.
Mr Rakhimov has no official position, but is greeted with respect in Korasuv.
He has a large group of active supporters, but the exact nature of the group is unclear.
They say they are simply farmers, and they wear the traditional white smock and high leather boots of an Uzbek farmer.
Religion plays a strong role in their plans. Mr Rakhimov said they want to establish an Islamic administration based on the Koran.
But they also seem to want a society based on the traditional Uzbek rural life of this fertile Fergana region.
It is unclear whether they may have any connections to wider Islamic groups, or to what extent they might be connected to the mysterious organisers of the anti-government protest in nearby Andijan last week, where troops shot dead possibly hundreds of demonstrators. President Karimov has accused people he calls "Islamic extremists" of being behind the Andijan protests.
But it is clear the underlying problem feeding resentment of the government here is growing poverty, and Tashkent's many restrictions of free trade and private enterprise.
Local people say with no jobs they can no longer afford to feed their families
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 |
Muslim Leader Calls Revolt in Uzbek Town
Wednesday May 18, 2005
By BURT HERMAN
Associated Press Writer
ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan (AP) - Diplomats and U.N. officials toured the eastern city of Andijan under government escort Wednesday to investigate widely differing accounts of recent bloodshed, as a rebel leader deepened the crisis in eastern Uzbekistan by announcing an Islamic uprising in his border town.
The government of President Islam Karimov quickly shrugged off Bakhtiyor Rakhimov's claims as "nonsense," but the rebel leader asserted that his forces controlled Korasuv, a town of 20,000 on the Kyrgyz border, and were ready to fight any government troops that came to crush his rebellion. The rebels claimed to control 5,000 activists.
"We will be building an Islamic state here in accordance with the Quran," Rakhimov said in an interview with The Associated Press. "People are tired of slavery."
The uprising in Korasuv began with attacks on police and government posts on Saturday, a day after the region exploded in unrest with thousands of protesters taking to the streets in Uzbekistan's fourth-largest city, Andijan, in a rage over the trial of 23 Muslims and complaints of economic hardship.
Troops loyal to Karimov's government put down the protest Friday in Andijan and reportedly did the same in another town, Pakhtabad, over the weekend.
Accounts have varied greatly on the death toll so far, with the government citing 169 dead in Andijan, and opposition activists citing more than 700 dead - more than 500 in Andijan and about 200 in Pakhtabad - most of them civilians.
Karimov's government has blamed all of the unrest on militants and has denied that troops fired on any civilians, though an AP reporter saw troops opening fire on protesters in Andijan on Friday.
U.N. officials on Wednesday toured Andijan's regional emergency hospital, which was treating 106 people wounded in the riots. Valikhan Khakimov, the head of the regional health department, said that 72 of them were civilians and 34 were law enforcement officials.
He declined to give the overall figure of people wounded in Andijan violence.
Outside the hospital, about 30 patients' relatives crowded the gates, asking for information and trying to hand over letters and food. They weren't allowed inside the hospital, which was swarming with troops toting Kalashnikov assault rifles.
"They don't let us in, they don't explain anything, they just say no," said Khamid Fazliddinov, 45, who hasn't seen his wounded son for five days.
In response to a request by Britain and others, Uzbek authorities allowed a visit to Andijan by a group of 35 diplomats and 30 journalists, who arrived Wednesday on a government-organized flight.
"It's really important to see what the government has to tell us," U.S. Ambassador Jon Purnell said.
The group, traveling under police escort, toured a prison and an administrative building that were seized by militants during Friday's violence.
"The goal of the trip is to disavow media allegations that didn't correspond to reality," said Uzbek Deputy Foreign Minister Ilkhom Nematov.
Authorities did not allow the visitors to roam freely, citing security concerns, and showed them local residents who backed the official version of events. One of them, Tursunbai Rustamov, said he was proud of his son, a police officer, who was killed by militants.
Meanwhile, refugees who fled the fighting into neighboring Kyrgyzstan described being fired on by soldiers in the square and again by police at the border crossing after an eight- or nine-hour walk from Andijan.
"They fired nonstop. We waved in the air with white scarves, but they continued to shoot at us," said Tojiba Mukhtarova.
Others said that when the troops started shooting, police told them they would be given a corridor to leave the square. But when people entered the corridor shouting "Freedom!" the troops opened fire.
---
Associated Press writers Kadyr Toktogulov in Andijan and Bagila Bukharbayeva in Korasuv contributed to this report
-----------------
Islamic Rebels claim to hold Uzbek town
BAGILA BUKHARBAYEVA
Associated Press
KORASUV, Uzbekistan - A Muslim rebel group claimed Wednesday it had seized control of a small Uzbek town on the border of Kyrgyzstan and vowed to build an Islamic state. Diplomats and U.N. officials toured a nearby city where government troops fired on demonstrators, reportedly killing hundreds.
The leader of the rebel group, Bakhtiyor Rakhimov, said his forces controlled Korasuv, a town of 20,000, and were ready to fight any government troops that came to crush his rebellion. An AP reporter in Korasuv saw no sign of government officials in the town.
"The town is in the hands of people. People are tired of slavery," Rakhimov told The Associated Press while leaning down from the back of a horse. "We will be building an Islamic state here in accordance with the Quran."
The town is in the hands of people. People are tired of slavery," Rakhimov told The Associated Press while leaning down from the back of a horse. "We will be building an Islamic state here in accordance with the Quran."
The group claimed to have 5,000 militants.
The government of President Islam Karimov quickly shrugged off Rakhimov's claims.
"It's all sheer nonsense, everything is normal there," Uzbek Interior Minister Zakir Almatov said when asked whether the government would move against the insurgents in Korasuv.
The uprising in Korasuv began with attacks on police and government posts Saturday, a day after the region exploded in unrest when thousands of protesters took to the streets of Andijan, Uzbekistan's fourth-largest city.
The unrest was sparked economic hardship and rage over the trial of 23 Muslims accused of being members of a group allied with the outlawed radical Islamic party Hizb-ut-Tahrir. The group seeks to create a worldwide Islamic state and has been forced underground throughout most of Central Asia and Russia.
Karimov's hardline secular regime has a long history of repressing Muslims who worship outside state-approved mosques.
Karimov blamed the unrest in Andijan on extremist Islamic groups that seek to overthrow his secular government and create an Islamic state. The government has denied that troops fired on any civilians, though an AP reporter saw troops shooting at protesters in Andijan on Friday.
Troops loyal to the government put down the protest Friday in Andijan and reportedly shot and killed civilians in another town, Pakhtabad, over the weekend.
Almatov on Wednesday dismissed as "nonsense" allegations of a crackdown by troops in Pakhtabad.
"Clashes only occurred in Andijan," he said.
Accounts of the death toll have varied greatly so far. The government said 169 died in Andijan. Opposition activists say more than 700 were killed - more than 500 in Andijan and about 200 in Pakhtabad - most of them civilians.
In response to a request by Britain and others, Uzbek authorities allowed a group of 35 diplomats and 30 journalists to visit Andijan on Wednesday. They arrived on a government-organized flight to investigate the reports of heavy bloodshed, but British Ambassador David Moran expressed reservations that much would be accomplished.
"I think we need to be realistic about how much can be achieved in a whistle-stop tour of ambassadors in a large delegation format over such a short period," he said. "I think what we need now is a systematic process of openness that will enable the international community to make an authoritative assessment of the scale and the nature of what happened here."
The group, traveling under police escort, toured a prison and an administrative building seized by militants during Friday's violence. It was unclear whether they saw the square outside the local government building where Friday's violence occurred.
"The goal of the trip is to disavow media allegations that did not correspond to reality," Uzbek Deputy Foreign Minister Ilkhom Nematov said.
Authorities did not allow the visitors to roam freely, citing security concerns, and showed them local residents who backed the official version of events. One of them, Tursunbai Rustamov, said he was proud of his son, a police officer, who was killed by militants.
In another section of Andijan, which the foreign delegation did not visit, dozens of heavily armed troops moved into a neighborhood in what looked like a special operation that included snipers watching from rooftops. No shooting was heard.
Also, U.N. officials toured Andijan's regional emergency hospital, which was treating more than 100 people wounded in the riots. Valikhan Khakimov, the head of the regional health department, said they were treating 72 civilians and 34 law enforcement officials.
Nigara Khidoyatova, head of the opposition Free Peasants Party, has said her party reached its figure of 745 killed in Andijan and Pakhtabad by speaking to relatives of the missing and attending funerals.
Khidoyatova's casualty estimate could not be independently verified. Karimov dismissed the claim, saying Khidoyatova "needs psychiatric treatment."
Karimov's restrictive economic polices and widespread official graft in the government have created an army of desperately poor and jobless youth who have become an easy target for recruitment by Islamic groups.
Karimov banned all secular opposition political parties in the early 1990s and jailed or forced into exile their main leaders.
----------------------------------------------
.
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/625