- On March 28-30, a series of attacks on militia posts
and several explosions rocked the city of Tashkent and a village near Bukhara.
At least twenty militia and bystanders were killed and many wounded. The
explosions involved women suicide bombers, one of whom detonated her tragic
load near the beautiful Kukaldash mosque in the old part of Tashkent. A
sad first for the Uzbek nation.
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- President Karimov denounced the events on Uzbek TV, explaining
that they "were carried out by those forces that hate in their very
souls our country, the peaceful life of our citizens and their achievements.
Their aims are to disrupt peace, destabilize the situation, sow fear and
panic, disrupt faith in our policies, disrupt our good thoughts and creative
work."
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- True, they were carried out to "destabilize the
situation" and "disrupt faith in our policies", but as for
the rest...
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- Privately the recent murders of the militia are seen
by many as just deserts for a force that is omnipresent, eager to supplement
their meager wages with bribes, notorious for using torture against people,
and always 'solving' any crime by finding an appropriate criminal, whether
or not s/he is guilty. In the past, a murdered militia head was gruesomely
stuck on the local city hall fence spikes in Fergana valley, a particular
hotbed of anti-government feeling. This is the first time the hated militia
have been the target of unrest beyond the independent-minded Fergana valley,
a truly worrying sign.
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- As for 'our policies', read 'IMF dictates'. Yes, Uzbekistan
finally made its currency, ironically called the sum (but pronounced soom),
convertible, after years of procrastinating, despite daily exhortations
and pressure by the IMF, the US and the WB. In the process, all basic goods
prices were ratcheted up to an unbearable level. Meanwhile, the government
soaked up sums by selling dollar reserves, pushing down the exchange rate
to less than 1000 sums per $ (it once was 1800) as inflation continued
to eat away at real wages. This effectively halved people's pitiful savings
(in $ as no one can trust a bank here to return one's deposits). Imported
goods have doubled in price, including most medicines. Not infrequently
they are phony, nicely packaged by a local petty swindler, a would-be New
Uzbek.
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- In a word, the atmosphere of 'freedom and democracy'
based on IMF wisdom has created a tinderbox. The president's reference
to 'our policies' and 'the path we have chosen' sticks in the craw. It
is the path the IMF chose, as it turned a blind eye to the devastation
wrought on the average Farhad and the new ease with which corrupt officials
and mafia deposit their ill-gotten gains abroad.
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- The latest straw for the hand-to-mouth Farhads has been
the inexorable increase in public transit charges - each month a 10% increase.
Now at 140 sums, that may not sound bad to a westerner, but it is a major
cost for most people, and if you commute to work and must transfer and
return the same day, as most do, that alone will absorb half a normal salary.
The last increase was met with outright protest on the bus I was in, the
first time I've witnessed this. The babushka shouting at the conductor
was hardly a terrorist.
-
- And what does one read in the local press? About the
great future, the happy contented citizens, the approval of the IMF for
the wise policies of the president, the lack of inflation, the creation
of a bicameral parliament, the construction of the new senate building...
The only TV programs that are watched avidly are the Indian movies and
Mexican soap operas. And thank God for them.
-
- President Karimov noted with disapproval in his speech
that "before, we did not witness the situation where the criminal
blew himself up. This shows the imitation of terrorist acts taking place
in other countries." Ah yes, those cursed Palestinians and Iraqis.
He goes on to add, ominously, "extremist centers with big financial
means are behind them," though a few guns and some ammonium nitrate
don't cost an awful lot (correct me if I'm wrong).
-
- Is he perhaps trying to connect this with the tragedy
of the Palestinians or the criminal invasion of Iraq (which he enthusiastically
endorses, even THESE days)? If so, he puts himself in the shoes of the
Israeli and US occupation forces in their respective missions, hardly desirable
bedfellows for a Muslim leader.
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- Finally, he calls on the traditional community organizations,
mahallas, and their members, to be extra vigilant in exposing suspicious
activities. "May they be brave and decisive, not stinting in their
duty to preserve order in the mahallas."
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- That's the spirit! In the tradition of 911, encourage
people to inform on each other, and don't dare question what grievances
the desperate individuals have that might prompt them to blow themselves
up. Of course, they are mere dupes of some nebulous religious 'fanatics'
(thousands of whom are languishing (or worse) in Uzbek jails). The fact
that life for most Uzbeks is close to unbearable is never mentioned.
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- But beware Mr Karimov. The US can be a fickle ally. The
shiny new FBI office you so graciously allowed them to open here, the huge
military base you so magnanimously handed over, packed full of hardnosed
soldiers and covert operations experts - they aren't necessarily to protect
YOU. And you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
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