UNDER ANY PRETEXT

Independent journalist Dzhamshid Karimov, President Islam Karimov's nephew residing in Dzhizak, published several articles at Ferghana.Ru news agency website using "Andrei Nazarov" as the alias. As it turned out, his latest article "Uzbek Senator Accuses The Population Of Andizhan Of Treason Against The State" exhausted Dzhizak Khokim [governor] Ubaidulla Yamankulov's patience. Employee of the khokimijat's [regional administration] press center, Karimov answered a telephone call on May 24 morning and was told to hand in his resignation, badge, and key to the office. Karimov was warned that he was a persona non grata in the region now. An official of the regional administration later told the journalist that Yamankulov had had a conference with his closest confidants and ordered to drive Karimov from the region under any pretext.

"Yamankulov reminded us that you had Tashkent residential registration. He said he did not want you poking your nose everywhere anymore and that you should move to the capital because you will never find another job in the region,." the official said.

Yamankulov himself repeated all of that to the journalist's mother Margarita Karimova shortly afterwards.

"Your son has betrayed me," Yamankulov told me," Karimova said. "He added, "He won't find life easy around here as long as I'm the khokim."

Yamankulov does not bother to hide his acute dislike of independent media outlets and particularly of Ferghana.Ru news agency. He calls the latter "an organization sowing sedition" at practically every khokimijat conference. When Karimov wanted an interview with Yamankulov on the local authorities' attitude towards the regional Russian community a month ago, the khokim personally frisked the journalist looking for a Dictaphone. When the search failed to produce one, he merely showed the journalist the door.

Officials of the press center of the Dzhizak regional administration confirm that Karimov has been ousted. Journalist Karimov, of course.