Karimov brooked no dissent during his 27 years at the helm, stubbornly resisted pressure to reform the moribund Uzbek economy and jealously guarded his country’s independence against Russia and the West. “Such people must be shot in the head,” he said of the Islamists in a speech to parliament in 1996. Karimov shut down a US military air base in Uzbekistan, established after the 9/11 attacks by al-Qaeda on the US. The West imposed a set of sanctions on Uzbekistan and slapped a visa ban on senior Uzbek officials, prompting Karimov to seek improved ties with Soviet-era overlord Russia. Her younger sister Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva has risen to public prominence, serving as Uzbekistan’s ambassador to the Paris-based Unesco.

Source: Dhaka Tribune September 02, 2016 19:52 UTC