Nervous Uzbek Government TIghtens Security

A heightened security regime across Uzbekistan suggests the government is worried about something, though quite what is another question. 

Residents of the capital Tashkent report a series of tighter security measures since May, including more police cars prowling the streets and more officers on the ground.

No one knows for sure what the authorities are concerned about. Some believe the government must have been alerted to an imminent terrorist threat from Islamic extremists, while others say it is concerned about the possible spread of Arab-style revolutionary moods, perhaps driven by opposition groups abroad. (See: New Uzbek Opposition Force Formed.)

Security precautions are particularly strong on Tashkent's underground rail system. Ticket offices have been moved out of the stations to prevent crowds building up inside.

"All underground stations have metal detector gates which passengers have to go through, and police officers with sniffer dogs check them," a local observer said. Anyone holding a large bag is immediately called aside or taken to a separate room to be searched and closely questioned."

Underground stations also feature posters warning people to be vigilant and ready to defend their country to the last, and declaring the value of stability and peace.

Police are also stationed outside places of entertainment like Tashkent's night clubs.

In residential areas, people say they have received house-to-house visits from district policemen and representatives of the mahalla or neighbourhood committees.

"People from the mahalla committee came to my house and said that some terrible people wanted to establish an Islamic Caliphate in Uzbekistan, so we should remember this and thank our president for the peace and calm we have," a resident of Tashkent's Chilanzar district said.

Such warnings appear to refer to banned groups like Hizb ut-Tahrir or the armed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. But there are also indications that the government's worries lie elsewhere.

An employee of the state television station said it had been banned from showing footage of protests in Syria, Yemen and Libya so as not to encourage young Uzbeks to try the same thing. TV journalists were also instructed to make a series of programmes on the heightened security measures.

A student at Tashkent's Information Technology University said that before the summer term ended, police spoke to young people there warning them not to be in contact with anyone who was trying to "undermine the constitutional system".

"We were told that if we participated in any campaigns in summer, we could be thrown out or put in prison," he said.

An education official said similar actions had been taken in other institutions to boost "ideological immunity" against threats facing Uzbekistan.

People from other parts of Uzbekistan also reported signs of anxiety.

In Syrdarya in central Uzbekistan, buses are plastered with signs praising stability, while TV screens have been put up in the streets showing calls to vigilance.

In Namangan in the eastern Fergana valley, a man originally from Osh in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan said he and his family were under increased surveillance.

"We've been marked down as politically suspect, and we have been told we will be watched until the country becomes stable," he said.

Jora Muradov of the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders, lives in a village in Kashkadarya region close to the border with Turkmenistan, and says security is tight even in remote places like that.

"People die trying to cross the border every week. They are shot without warning," he said. "The border guards say they have orders from Tashkent to show no mercy to anyone trying to derail peace."

A former Uzbek intelligence officer who did not want to be identified said the country faced real dangers, so such security measures were not out of the ordinary. He suspects the current action relates to the 20th anniversary of Uzbekistan's independence, which will be marked in September.

"The authorities want to ensure the anniversary celebrations go smoothly," he said.