Mixed media: Uprising in Uzbekistan

It's Karimov's fault

Japanese newspaper: It is hard to take at its face value the Government's simplistic explanation that the latest clash was part of a fight against terror. In some respects, the people's discontent with poverty in their day-to-day life and the high-handed rule by the Government may well have converged with the drive for the restoration of Islam, and the Government's oppressive modus operandi accelerated the growth of militant fundamentalism.

- The Asahi Shimbun

Arab view: The solution does not lie in blaming Islamic extremists either ... There is nothing to prove that it was Hizb ut-Tahrir that organised the demonstration which brought out the machineguns. Of course, the group has its own political ambitions and is not averse to using the name of Islam to achieve them, but the accusation in this particular case seems to be aimed at deflecting criticism from a world horrified by the scale of death.

- Arab News

From Pakistan: While there is an Islamist presence in Uzbekistan, much of that presence and its relevance is owed to Karimov's repression. If the repression continues, the violence and Islamist threat will increase. There is a need to handle the situation with much greater sophistication than Karimov or his Government has shown so far.

- Daily Times, Lahore

Middle Eastern opinion: As in other Central Asian republics, the political leadership in Uzbekistan has transitioned from Soviet era to a so-called democratic republic without shedding its autocratic mindset and practices of a police state. So the system of one-party governance with little tolerance for difference of opinion is still the rule in the Karimov country, as it continues to be in neighbouring countries.

- Khaleej Times

Others share responsibility

Washington opinion: [United States] Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rightly pointed out that the problem in Uzbekistan is ... the lack of "pressure valves that come from a more open political system". Karimov habitually ignores such prodding from the State Department, and understandably so, since he has the Pentagon's unconditional support for a "strategic partnership" by which the United States operates at an air base outside Tashkent.

- Washington Post

From Scotland: The American response (or lack of it) to the popular revolt in Andizhan, and the brutality with which it has been quelled, confirms that the Bush Administration supports the spread of democracy only where it suits American interests. Diplomats would sum up the situation as practice coming up against principle. In other words, democracy and freedom can, in certain circumstances, have their limits.

- The Herald, Glasgow

London: Any opponent of the regime is labelled an Islamic radical, thus ensuring that there will be little international outcry at his treatment. But the Islamist threat is largely a fiction ... By insisting that all his opponents are fundamentalists, Karimov is making his fantasy come true. And the West, in its short-sightedness, is encouraging him. We made the same mistake in Egypt and Iran, and seem bent on repeating it in Saudi Arabia. Will we never learn?

- Daily Telegraph

Russian view: The Karimov Government can hardly feel safe because the situation has not stabilised. Besides, the relatives of the dead will not forget and forgive easily, and the problems that provoked the revolt will not be solved overnight. Hence, the geopolitical situation in Central Asia cannot be seen as stable, especially in view of the growing Russia-West competition in the former Soviet Union as a whole.

- Alexei Makarkin writing for RIA Novosti