ANDIZHAN, May 16: There is confusion over the identity of the men who started an uprising in the eastern Uzbek town of Andizhan, which ended in a massacre when troops opened fire on Friday, killing hundreds. The violence was prompted by the trial on religious extremism charges of 23 local businessmen.
According to official and witness accounts, a group of men attacked a police station and military unit, stole weapons, and then overran a prison where they freed the businessmen and others. The rebels occupied a regional government building in a square, where several thousand protesters and onlookers gathered. A correspondent later witnessed troops opening fire on the crowd.
Eyewitnesses said troops later gunned down hundreds of people outside a school, including 10 police being held hostage by the rebels. Following are views from official, human rights and international sources.
OFFICIAL VIEW: President Islam Karimov described the rebels as ‘armed Criminals’ linked to outlawed Islamic group Hizb ut Tahrir during a news conference on Saturday.
Hizb ut Tahrir, which denied involvement, says it is a non-violent group, although its stated aim is to set up an Islamic caliphate across Central Asia. Mr Karimov, criticized in the West for jailing thousands of dissident Muslims, frequently says Uzbekistan faces a threat from militants. He is a close ally in the US ‘war on terrorism’ and has given Washington the use of an airbase.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIEW: Saidzhakhon Zainabitdinov, the local head of human rights group Appeal, said the 23 businessmen on trial were ‘humble people and pious Muslims’ with no extremist tendencies. One had a company making shoes, another ran a construction firm.
They used to gather to read an unpublished book by a jailed Muslim theologian, Akram Yuldashev, and they had set up a charitable organization to help the poor in Andizhan, but he said they were not part of an extremist group.
During their trial, the men were accused of belonging to an extreme sect called “Akromiya”, which Zainabitdinov said was an invention of the security services. He denied there had been any “rebels” in Andizhan, and said the men were set free by relatives and friends who took the law into their own hands. This became a catalyst for an uprising fuelled by years of economic malaise and official corruption.
“Maybe my comparison will seem a little too elevated but like the Bastille prison in France, the local jail in Andizhan was a symbol of tyranny and injustice for all of us, so it was doomed to fall one day,” he said.
INTERNATIONAL VIEW: The US State Department said Washington was particularly concerned about the escape of prisoners, ‘including possibly members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), an organization we consider a terrorist Organization’.
Mr Karimov blamed the IMU for a bomb blast in Tashkent in 1999 which killed more than a dozen people. The group was active in Central Asia during the late 1990s, but its leader was reportedly killed in 2002 and some security analysts say it is no longer active. In contrast to the US stance, the European Union put the blame squarely on the government for the bloodshed.—Reuters