Hypocracy, China’s Two Yardsticks - Northlines
R C Ganjoo
China’s Machiavellian policy for Muslims is neither keeping them
close nor distant from them. China’s influence in Pakistan is limited
but significant, and in Afghanistan, it is very modest. China is
seriously concerned about Pakistan’s, instability and the inability to
control extremists. Beijing is worried, that in near future Islamic
radicals, having foreign support may give a further flip to separatist
forces in Xinjiang. Chinese leaders do recognize that the country’s
westernmost regions are poorly defended and vulnerable to internal
dissent and external threats. The success of Afghans against the former
Soviet Union has certainly encouraged Uyghurs, the Islamist groups in
Xinjiang.
Xinjiang having a population of 2.18 crores is spread over 1.6 million
km ( in size to Iran), one-sixth of China . Xinjiang borders the Tibet
Autonomous Region and India’s Leh District to the south and Qinghai and
Gansu provinces to the southeast, Mongolia to the east, Russia to the
north, and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
and India to the west.
Muslim population in China is divided into two large groups: Hui—- who
are descendants from Central Asia, Arab, and Persian Muslim immigrants
who intermarried with Han Chinese and Turkic Muslim group of China’s
Western province. These include Uighur, Kazak, Tajik, and Kyrgyz groups.
Muslims of Turkic origin Muslim primarily live in Xinjiang (“the new
frontier,” in Chinese). The area was formally annexed to China in 1884
and was called Xinjiang. The Uyghurs maintained their religious identity
throughout the long occupation by China and simultaneously kept their
aspiration to become independent alive.
China experienced Muslim unrest in the latter half of the 19th century.
The various Chinese Government’s attitude toward Muslims in China
remained oscillated “between a policy of absorption and autonomy that
resulted in hardship for the Muslims and their continued mistrust of the
administrations.
Keeping the extremist and separatist threats to China’s territorial
integrity, and its population, they have detained about eight hundred
thousand to two million Uighurs and other Muslims, including ethnic
Kazakhs and Uzbeks, in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region concentration
camps, since April 2017. In March 2019, officially these camps were
named as “vocational training centers.” Xinjiang’s governor, Shohrat
Zakir, described them as “boarding schools” and after receiving the
training they are allowed to leave the camps. But documents leaked in
late 2019 proved how China government repress Uyghurs, lock them in
camps, and prevent them from leaving.
The world community has condemned China’s detention of Uighurs in
Xinjiang. The UN human rights chief and other human rights organizations
have urged China to immediately shut down the camps and answer
questions about disappeared Uighurs. European Union has also demanded to
respect religious freedom and change its policies in Xinjiang. But
China has turned a deaf ear to everyone. In 2019, Turkey was the only
Muslim-majority country to raise its voice in a UN Human Rights Council
session to ensure “the full protection of the cultural identities of
the Uighurs and other Muslims”
In 2011, after attacks in Xinjiang, it was claimed that Uyghurs behind those acts were trained in Pakistan. The attackers were reported to belong to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a Uyghur Islamist and anti-Chinese organization, which has some of its members hiding in Pakistan. The Islamic radicals issue was obviously, disturbing the relations between Islamabad and Beijing. But the issue was best talked about behind the closed doors and decided to deal with it covertly. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has consistently dodged the questions when asked about this issue. Beijing has been hushing up Pakistan’s link in terror attacks in Xinjiang, with purpose.
Surprisingly, many Muslim nations have maintained silence over Uyghurs Muslim in Xinjiang. Because they prioritize their economic ties and strategic relationships with China, many governments have ignored the human rights abuses. When the role of liberator of Muslims, particularly Pakistani Taliban, and other radical Sunni Pakistani organizations of Muslims are convened, they never mentioned about the plight of Uyghurs. Hafiz Saeed, chief of Jamaat ul-Dawaa later president of political party Milli Muslim League gave a clean chit to Beijing that Muslim citizens there are treated in a “moderate” way. Only radical Islamic outfits in Pakistan, Hizb ut-Tahrir (HUT), did raise its voice for Uyghurs. HU is an international Muslim organization, known to be hostile to the Islamabad government.
(The writer is a senior freelance journalist from J&K working in Delhi)
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