 |
Andijan, Uzbekistan |
With the fall of the Kyrgyz regime two months ago, we presented a pressing question that haunted the minds of many Muslims as they watched the uprising: Is Kyrgyzstan's revolution a harbinger of change for Central Asia's entrenched dictatorships?
As peaceful protests and efforts to provide alternative means for a better life proved fruitless before an infamously ruthless autocratic regime, violence—a sure result of oppression—finally erupted in Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan, home to Central Asia's largest Muslim population, and birthplace of renowned hadith scholar Imam Bukhari, is now ironically a staunch US ally, with a military base facilitating its route to Afghanistan. It is also home to illegal arrests, systematic and quite innovative torture methods used on ordinary citizens of both genders and of all creeds, a tight, suffocating grip on the economy, and direct state filtering of information and media suppression.
The growing rates of unemployment and poverty, and the deteriorating agricultural conditions inside Uzbekistan are exacerbated by a centralized system of government and security that revolves around the person of President Islam Karimov and his associates.
A traditionally devout Muslim nation, Uzbekistan hosts some of the strongest Islamic movements in Central Asia, movements that adopt a holistic view of society. Such movements have been a refuge to many Uzbeks, providing them with jobs and economic support through small businesses and enterprises—often targeted and suppressed by the government.
What the world witnesses in Uzbekistan today is the inevitable outcome of a long journey through a dark tunnel. Now that the confrontation has finally arrived, Uzbekistan's battle for freedom looks set to last longer than was optimistically forecast in the aftermath of Kyrgyzstan's revolution. It is currently polarized between one of the strongest regimes in the region, supported by external powers that do not perceive a possible Islamic government as being within their best interests, and a popular, decentralized uprising of the fed-up victims of a vicious regime. Two strong fronts, each testing its own limits.
Read Also:
(IslamOnline.net is not responsible for the content of external links)
|
