The hokim of Jizzax province, Ubaydullo Yomonqulov, has stepped down reportedly for health reasons.
Yomonqulov is rare among Uzbekistan’s regional officials in that he has gotten a fair deal of attention in the West for a nasty streak as wide as the day is long. Back in 2005, he tore into the United States before it was in vogue in official circles in Uzbekistan to do so.
He reserved a special hatred for human rights activists. At the same time that he attacked the US in 2005, he tore into Jizzax’s human rights community for colluding with “so called human rights organizations” in the West to sully Uzbekistan’s good name by criticizing the recent parliamentary election. In May of 2005, Yomonqulov arranged a pro-governmnet parade and trial of public trial in absentia of human rights activists. He is said to have set up a group of thugs to attack his opponents, most of whom were human rights activists. Victims included journalist Ulugbek Haidarov and Egamnazar Shoimanov, an Ozod Dehqonlar (Free Peasants) activist and chair of a human rights organization. Jamshid Karimov, another journalist and the nephew of President Karimov, got off a bit easier. He was simply driven from the region.*
Yomonqulov also paid plenty of attention to Jizzax’s farmers. He threatened to seize land from farmers if they would not sign contracts agreeing to produce silk. To add insult to injury, farmers were rarely paid for their work. (That story, by the way, was written by Ulugbek Haidarov and Jamshid Karimov.) A couple years later, farmers began protesting land seizures by local authorities under the leadership of Egamnazar Shoimanov. And after Andijon, he sat down farmers and local hokims and reminded them of who calls the shots. Farmers in the province were reported to have been voicing sympathy for Andijon’s rebels, and he told them, “You must support the president and respect his point of view. We have men watching every one of you. You are under control.”
The governor’s heavy-handedness inspired some resistance. After the aforementioned attack on Egamnazar Shoimanov, residents of his district rallied against Yomonqulov, burning police cars and ransacking a police station. The governor backed down and even paid farmers back wages after the show of anger.
It is quite good to see him gone, and one can only hope that his predecessor does not match his infamy.
*Sadly, the hammer eventually did come down on Karimov. Last December, he disappeared from Jizzax and is now being held in a mental hospital in Samarkand, where he is denied visits from friends and relatives.
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