Sitqi fakulteti Odinayeva Barno Ingiliz tili fanidan tayyorlagan Mustaqil ish Qarshi – 2023 Famous Person Plan: Access The main part

3. My favourite person Islam karimov
Karimov had originally cultivated Islamic symbols after independence in order to coopt religious opposition. In May 1999, as a response to the threat of Islamic radicalism, the Oliy Majlis revised the 'Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations' to impose new restrictions on religious groups. The construction of mosques, for example, required permission and specific documentation. An assassination attempt on Karimov in 1999 elicited even more repression of Islamic groups. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Uzbekistan was considered a strategic ally in the United States' "War on Terror" campaign because of a mutual opposition to the Taliban. Uzbekistan hosted an 800-strong U.S. troop presence at the Karshi-Khanabad base, also known as "K2", which supported U.S.-led efforts in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. The move was criticized by Human Rights Watch which said the U.S. government subordinated the promotion of human rights to assistance in the War in Afghanistan. U.S.-Uzbek relations deteriorated in May 2005 when Karimov's government strongly encouraged the abandonment of the U.S. base in the face of U.S. government criticism of the government killings of protestors in Andijan. In July 2005 U.S. military forces left Karshi-Khanabad.
Karimov meets with Donald H. Rumsfeld in the Pentagon on March 13, 2002
Karimov mobilized against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Hizb ut-Tahrir, two Islamist organizations which have been designated as terrorist by his government. The Uzbek government sentenced Tohir Yoʻldosh and Juma Namangani, leaders of the IMU, to death in absentia. Namangani died in Afghanistan in 2001, and Tohir Yoʻldosh was killed in an air strike on 27 August 2009. From 1991 to 2004, the government imprisoned over 7,000 Uzbeks for "Islamist extremism", and silenced Imams like Muhammad Rajab, who advocated for more open democracy in the early 1990s. These fears of extremism arose out of discourse among the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) of a "Jihad against the Karimov regime". The government of Uzbekistan retains fears of "large-scale all-encompassing anti-state conspiracies" and "echoes of Basmachi" Among Karimov's anti-Islamist policies was the purge of Muslim leaders. Karimov led a crackdown on Adolat, a league of Muslim activists. Explicit fears of threats of Islamic extremism also led to a crackdown of displays of Islamic practice in public. The term "Wahhabis" became the umbrella term to refer to all strains of "extremist" Islam; it did not necessarily refer to the Islamic sect that originated in Saudi Arabia. Ordinary practicing Muslims have been targeted and jailed without trial, and frequent use of torture and occasional "disappearances" have been reported. In 2005 Karimov banned the Muslim call to prayer from being broadcast in the country; the ban was lifted in November 2017 by his successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev. According to detailed accounts, on 13 May 2005, some 400 of the 500 protesters staging an anti-government demonstration were killed after being driven deliberately into a trap – authorities had blocked all the exits from Bobur Square with armoured personnel carriers, preventing people from dispersing home. Instead, they drove the crowd into a closed street, Chulpon Avenue, where snipers and police shot to kill. These scenes of deliberate killings prompted eyewitnesses to allege that troops not only shot to disperse the demonstration, but to summarily execute anyone who took part in it. Later, some tortured detainees recounted that police said they had received orders supposedly emanating from the president himself to shoot to kill.
According to Ikram Yakubov, a major in Uzbekistan's secret service who defected to Britain in 2007, the government had "propped up" the Islamist organization Akramia, which the Uzbek government blamed for fomenting the incident that led to the protests. He believes that the attacks were a pretext to repress dissenters. According to Yakubov, President Karimov personally ordered government troops to fire on the protestors.
In response to the military sanctions imposed by the US and Europe, Karimov expelled US forces from the Karshi-Khanabad Military Base.
On 6 September, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Samarkand to pay tribute to Karimov. Kneeling in front of the grave of the first President of Uzbekistan, the Russian leader laid a bouquet of red roses. In addition, Putin met with the relatives of the deceased and expressed condolences to them.
Karimov became first secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan in 1989 and was elected president of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he was elected president of independent Uzbekistan. In 1995 a national referendum extended his presidency to 2000, when he was reelected to another five-year term. In 2002 another national referendum extended his presidency to 2007. Although the Uzbek constitution prohibits presidents from serving more than two terms in office, Karimov was elected to a third term in 2007. The international community largely agreed that the elections that had placed Karimov in office were neither free nor fair. Karimov won another term in 2015 amid similar concerns regarding the fairness of elections.

Karimov was accused of stifling political opposition and sanctioning widespread human rights abuses in his country. Despite such criticism, he became an ally of the United States after the 2001 September 11 attacks and granted basing rights to U.S. forces operating in Afghanistan in exchange for military and economic assistance. Karimov was also supported by the Russian government.

On August 29, 2016, one of Karimov’s daughters, Lola Karimova-Tillyayeva, announced over social media that her father had been hospitalized for a cerebral hemorrhage. Karimov’s health crisis set off a round of speculation about who would succeed him as president. There were also unconfirmed reports that he had actually died but that the news was being held back by members of his inner circle. On September 2 the government officially confirmed Karimov’s death. A funeral was held the next day in Samarkand, and the prime minister, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, took over as acting president.