Chapter Six
Dark path,
Bandit’s tamarisk
Why do you beat so, heart
That which you fear like providence is a mountain,
That which you fear like death is a star
Will your insane guide – whether you stare or not -
Sell you rocks and planets?
-Belgi
President Karimov, having won his victory over the poet Muhammad Solih in the presidential elections of December 1991, barely even had time to draw breath in order to set about consolidating his forces, before thousands of students came out on to the streets of Tashkent on February 21, 1992.
The events of that time are recalled by the journalist Hamid Ismailov:
In February 1992 I was approached by a production group from BBC television who were planning to shoot four films at the same time about the four Central Asian republics. They ask
