Tuesday, October 04 @ 12:47:19 MYT
PUTRAJAYA, Oct 4- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi greeting Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov when the latter called on him at Prime Minister Department here today.Karimov, who arrived here to begin a three-day visit to Malaysia.
Profile: Islam Karimov (Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4554997.stm)
Karimov has been in power since before Uzbekistan's independence Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov is one of Central Asia's most autocratic leaders, running a repressive regime which retains many aspects of its Soviet past.
He does not tolerate dissent, and has banned many opposition groups, particularly Islamic organisations.
Critics also accuse him of sanctioning human rights abuses.
But while Mr Karimov has many enemies, he also has some influential friends.
(Abdullah with Islam Karimov - pic Bernama)
He is an ally of Washington in the US-led war against terrorism, as well as enjoying the backing of the Russian government.
In the last few days he has faced an increasing dilemma - how far to crack down on those he perceives as challenging his rule, while at the same time retaining the support of his powerful allies.
Disputed polls
Born in Samarkand in 1938, Islam Karimov was raised in a Soviet orphanage before studying engineering and economics at university.
He initially worked as an aircraft engineer and then as an economic planner.
He became the Communist Party's First Secretary in Uzbekistan in 1989, and was then elected president of independent Uzbekistan in December 1991, in what Human Rights Watch termed a "seriously marred" poll.
He extended his term further by a referendum in 1995.
He was re-elected in January 2000, and again the international community raised serious concerns about the poll's fairness.
The OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) refused to send observers after deciding that there was no possibility of a fair contest. US officials who did go said the poll was "neither free nor fair and offered Uzbekistan's voters no true choice".
The situation was no better in parliamentary elections in December 2004, in which Mr Karimov banned opposition parties from taking part.
Islamic threat
Mr Karimov's rule has now been extended again to 2007, and although he has been in power for more than 15 years, he remains intent on stifling any political opposition.
His most vitriolic attacks are reserved for those he views as Muslim extremists, intent on taking over the country.
Militants from several Islamic groups have been active in Uzbekistan.
The Islamic Movement of Turkestan (IMT) - said to have links to al-Qaeda - was blamed for a bomb blast in Tashkent in 1999 which killed more than a dozen people.
Mr Karimov also accused the IMT and another group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, of involvement in bomb attacks in the summer of 2004.
Both groups have the stated aim of establishing an Islamic state in Central Asia, though Hizb ut-Tahrir says it wants to do so using peaceful means.
Whatever the real extent of the Islamic threat, Mr Karimov's critics agree that he has used it to crack down on any form of opposition - militant or otherwise.
The crackdown in Andijan has drawn attention to Mr Karimov's regime Human rights groups estimate that thousands of ordinary Muslims are in jail, accused of plotting against the government.
In 2004, former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray said he had heard of prisoners being boiled to death, while a United Nations official said in 2002 that torture was "institutionalised, systematic and rampant" in Uzbekistan.
The state maintains tight control of the media, and criticism of the president and his policies is not allowed.
Mr Karimov's administration has been heavily criticised by the international community for the bloody crackdown on protesters in Andijan in recent days.
But Islam Karimov is not a person to be bowed by criticism. Indeed, on the few occasions he gives interviews, he does not mince his words on his hardline tactics.
Reacting to the violence in 1999, he is quoted as saying: "I'm prepared to rip off the heads of 200 people, to sacrifice their lives, in order to save peace and calm in the republic."
"If my child chose such a path, I myself would rip of his head," he is quoted as telling the French news agency AFP.
-zs
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