Uzbek President Islam Karimov has warned against attempts "to distort the essence of enlightened, peace-loving and tolerant Islam, to provoke hostility towards our sacred religion and relate it to international terrorism".

Karimov said this during a meeting with Egyptian President Muhammad Husni Mubarak in Cairo, a Regnum news agency correspondent was told at the Uzbek Foreign Ministry on 20 April.

Islam Karimov said that such attempts "may lead to unpredictable results and consequences". "Extremism and terrorism existed and are existing today in all the corners and regions of the world, whose genuine roots and history need the most serious study and attention," the president noted.

Karimov stressed that "at the same time, one should not tolerate when under the cover of slogans of fighting terrorism and ’advancing democracy’ strategic interests of certain powers are being advanced".

"The experience of many developed countries shows that building democratic society is a long process that must take into consideration centuries-old traditions, religion, spiritual values and mentality of people," he said, noting that "the population’s support is extremely important here". In Karimov’s opinion, "there is no and can not be a single universal model of democracy in the world". "Democracy should not be exported or, especially, propagated by coercive methods. Otherwise, we may discredit the meaning of democracy itself," the Uzbek leader stressed.