Thousands of Uzbeks lined up along Tashkent’s main thoroughfare at dawn on Saturday as Karimov’s funeral cortege made its way through the city.
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Analysts have warned that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan could exploit the uncertainty.
In a statement, President Obama said the US remains committed to its partnership with Uzbekistan as the country “begins a new chapter in its history”.
“Islam Karimov leaves a legacy of a quarter century of ruthless repression”, Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said. However, the head of the Uzbek senate is regarded as unlikely to seek permanent power and Karimov’s demise is expected to set off a period of jockeying for political influence.
Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov with Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi Jinping as they prepare to pose for a photo during the SCO summit in Ufa, Russia.
Karimov’s body was taken to the Samarkand’s Shah-i-Zinda cemetery after a funeral ceremony in the city’s ancient Registan square.
Media freedom and human rights have been harshly repressed ever since Mr Karimov became leader, while the country was still a republic of the Soviet Union.
It is feared that any failure to pick a new leader could lead to destabilisation of the country of 32 million people which is rich in natural resources, and a major cotton exporter.
Kamirov has been Uzbekistan’s sole leader since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, winning numerous elections, none of which have fulfilled global fairness criteria.
Several opposition parties were allowed to participate in the December 1991 presidential election, which Karimov won with 86 percent of the vote; global observers, however, cast doubts on its legitimacy, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) calling it “seriously marred”.
On Friday Uzbekistan’s cabinet of ministers released a statement, saying that Karimov was still alive but his condition had worsened overnight to critical. “I am struggling for words, I can t believe it myself”.
Most seriously, the authorities have been accused of killing hundreds of protesters in the eastern city of Andijan in 2005.
State television in the tightly-controlled nation showed soldiers loading a coffin onto a plane for what it described as Karimov’s final journey to Samarkand.
In the past 25 years, under Karimov’s leadership, Uzbekistan has witnessed social stability, economic development, improvement in people’s livelihood and global status, with remarkable achievements in a wide range of areas, the Chinese vice premier added. Uzbekistan celebrated its Independence Day on Thursday, which is perhaps why the government had delayed any news about Karimov.
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Samarkand airport was reported to be closed for arriving and departing aircraft last Saturday, possibly indicating even then that the government was making way for official foreign delegations to arrive.
