Barnabas Fund News Service (BFS) reports that a senior religious affairs official in Uzbekistan has demanded that churches stop preaching in Uzbek, the country's first language. In another incident, 18 Christians were detained after an investigation into the sources of Christian literature in Central Asian languages. These and other incidents have led Christians to issue an open letter in which they state, "Actions have recently been resumed in Uzbekistan which could soon lead to a significant restriction on religious freedom in our country."
According to BFS, the chairman of the Bible Society of Uzbekistan is quoted as saying that it was, "impossible to rule out the possibility that the authorities are beginning a campaign against Protestant communities in the republic." The situation of churches is particularly difficult in the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan in the northwest of Uzbekistan, where the authorities appear to be trying to halt the spread of Christianity among the local people.
On 13 May, six policemen appeared at a meeting of the New Life Church in Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan. They searched all 17 people present, including two foreigners, and then took them to the city's Administration of Internal Affairs. Four of the local Christians were later fined for organizing an illegal meeting. A spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Karakalpakstan stated that the church had not been registered and therefore had no right to hold religious meetings. In the whole of Karakalpakstan only one Christian community has been able to obtain registration.