Despotic leader’s death plunges Uzbekistan into political limbo

TASHKENT, Saturday

Uzbekistan bade farewell to President Islam Karimov at a high-security funeral, after his death plunged the country into the greatest period of uncertainty in its post-Soviet history with no clear successor to the iron-fisted ruler.

Karimov, 78, was pronounced dead late Friday after he suffered a stroke last weekend and fell into a coma, following days of speculation that officials were delaying making his death public.

The Islamic funeral for the strongman — who dominated the ex-Soviet nation for 27 years — was held in his home city of Samarkand, southwestern Uzbekistan, on Saturday and the country began three days of mourning.

Journalists in the famed Silk Road city — which houses the mausoleum of feared 14th century warlord Tamerlane — said police cordoned off the centre and were not letting ordinary citizens or cars through.

Despite his brutal quarter-century rule, which earned him a reputation abroad as one of the region’s most savage despots who ruthlessly stamped out opposition, people in Karimov’s hometown mourned his passing with some young people wearing black clothes.

“When we found out about his death, all my family — my wife, my son’s wife, the children — we were crying. We couldn’t believe it,” a 58-year-old resident told reporters, refusing to give his name.

“It is a great loss for every Uzbek. He made our country free and developed.”

State television in the tightly-controlled nation earlier reported that the coffin arrived by plane in Samarkand accompanied by Karimov’s widow and daughter.

Crowds earlier lined the road to watch and throw flowers at the cortege as it drove through Uzbek capital Tashkent.

Authorities said Karimov’s coffin would be displayed in a city square for people to pay their last respects before he was buried in a nearby cemetery next to family members.

HOUSE ARREST
Witnesses said they saw the vehicles carrying the coffin head towards Samarkand’s Unesco World Heritage site centre but that the event was open only to guests with official invitations.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev flew in for the funeral, along with leaders from former Soviet republics including Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and the prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Loyalist Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev headed the organising committee for the funeral, in a sign that he could be the frontrunner to take over long-term from Karimov.

Under Uzbek law, senate head Nigmatulla Yuldashev would act as president until early elections are held.

Karimov was one of a handful of Soviet strongmen who clung to power after their homelands gained independence from Moscow in 1991, and he played Russia, the West and China off against one another.

The most serious challenge to his rule came from his eldest daughter — once seen as a possible heir — whom he put under house arrest in 2014.

Uzbekistan has never held elections deemed free and fair by international monitors, and Karimov won his fifth term in office last March with 90 per cent of the vote.