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18 December 1997 -- RFE/RL and RTR report Uzbek government blames Wahhabis for Namangan killings

16 December 1997 -- Three policemen killed in Namangan, which follows late November killing of senior police official in same area

29 September 1997 -- President Karimov relieves Rustam Ahmedov as defense minister, appoints him Minister of Emergency Situations, replacing Ismail Jurabekov, appoints border guard chief Khimatullah Tursunov new defense minister

6 June 1997 -- President Karimov's new book, "Uzbekistan on the Threshold of the 21st Century" goes on sale

23 April 1997 -- Uzbek court summons Obidkhon Nazarov, mullah at Tashkent's Tokhtaboy mosque, on charges of slander and inciting ethnic, racial, and religious hatred

7 January 1997 -- Law on political parties comes into force, prohibits parties based on ethnic or religious lines, or those advocating war or subversion of the constitutional order, parties must have at least 5,000 members in at least eight of the republic's provinces, applications must be addressed to Justice Ministry and Supreme Court can ban any party if it is found guilty of persistent legal violations, parties have right to take part in elections, publish newspapers, and establish parliamentary and local groups