Uzbek Opposition Calls for US Pressure on Karimov

Uzbek opposition politicians charged at a July 25 meeting of the US Helsinki Commission in Washington, DC that the US government and other Western states are doing too little to put pressure on the government of Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov.

"We Uzbek democrats need the support of the US and the West, but there's no interest from the US and the West in our problems," Abdurahim Polat, chairman of the opposition Birlik Party, told the Commission, an independent government agency that monitors compliance with acts adopted by members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Polat was joined by Erk Party Chairman Muhammad Salih, and Gulam Umarov, son of Sanjar Umarov, head of the Sunshine Coalition, a loose grouping of human rights activists and members of the Ozod Dekhkonlar Party. Sanjar Umarov was arrested in Tashkent in October 2005.

The politicians argued that Western governments' failure to impose harsh sanctions on Uzbekistan after the May 2005 crackdown on demonstrators in the Uzbek town of Andijan has been interpreted by President Karimov as a laissez-faire for his domestic policies. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"For three months after the shooting of the peaceful demonstrators, Karimov was in shock from his own crime and awaited the coming punishment