We call on the people of Uzbekistan to rise from their knees.

Uznews.net – Uzbek opposition members in exile called on the Uzbek people to start non-violent protests against the ruling regime in Uzbekistan at a congress in Berlin yesterday.

The congress, organised by the newly established opposition People’s Movement of Uzbekistan (PMU), elected Muhammad Salih, leader of the opposition Erk party, as the movement’s leader.

In a statement, the movement also identified its main aim of brining Islam Karimov and members of his family to a “people’s court” for usurping power, destroying the country’s economy and repressions against dissidents, as well as crushing protests in Kokand in 1990, in Tashkent in 1991 and Andijan in 2005.

“Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov and members of his family should face a people’s court in Uzbekistan. His daughters Gulnara and Lola have neither legal, nor moral right to represent the Uzbek people abroad and should immediately be relieved of their diplomatic posts. All riches they have taken out of the country should be returned to the Uzbek people,” the statement said.

The opposition also called on the parliament and security services of Uzbekistan to support people to isolate Karimov and “not to allow him and his criminal family to avoid fair trial”.

“We call on the people of Uzbekistan to rise from their knees and start peaceful protest for the sake of our children’s free future and for the sake of souls destroyed by this inhumane regime,” the statement said.

However, the opposition congress, which gathered representatives of the Erk party, the Andijan – Justice and Revival and the Tayanch (Support) organisations and other opposition-minded groups, and its calls have not impressed Uzbek observers who attended it.

Human rights activist Mutabar Tajibayeva said that her Fiery Hearts Club had not joined the People’s Movement of Uzbekistan because the opposition members who set up it were not capable of opposing the Karimov regime efficiently.

“These people always say that they want to cook a pilaff but when they are given ready-made ingredients for it they cannot do anything,” she said.

She added that members of the movement had done nothing during Karimov’s visit to Brussels in January or at the trail which heard Lola’s lawsuit against the French Rue89 website or even now when Uzbek Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov is visiting Berlin.

Abdujalil Boymatov, president of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, said his organisation had not joined the new movement because its head Muhammad Salih was not a democratic as he had been heading his party for 20 years and had never allowed others to challenge him in the post.

“Salih does not do anything as the leader of Erk. What can he do as the head of the PMU?” Boymatov asked.

He also said that the movement was mostly made up by Islamic-minded groups which aimed to set up an Islamic state in Uzbekistan.

“If the PMU comes to power, we will get an Iranian scenario,” Boymatov said.

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