By Farooq Wani,
In Communist China, persecution of religious minorities is not a new phenomenon as Beijing considers religion to be an evil as it can mobilise the masses and therefore threaten its totalitarian type of governance. Be it Tibetan Buddhists, Christians or Uyghur Muslims, all have been systematically subjugated by the Communist Party of China (CPC) even so, reputable reports of rampant abuse and inhumane remedy of Uyghur Muslims of Xinjiang province of China has shocked the globe.
What’s most repulsive is Beijing’s so-referred to as ‘re-education’, which is practically nothing but a move to not only eradicate Islamic beliefs of the Uyghur neighborhood, but also adjust the political, demographic balance of the area. Just like in Tibet, individuals of the Han neighborhood are getting pumped into this area and this sooner or later led to the 2009 Urumqi riots in which 200 Hans and Uyghurs have been killed. Surprisingly, OIC as properly as Pakistan and Turkey who claim to be the champions of Islam, have maintained an eerie silence and the cause for this is easy- each prioritize friendly relations with China above safeguarding Islamic beliefs and simple human rights of Uyghur Muslims.
Post 9/11 the CCP strengthened its involvement in multilateral and bilateral counter-terrorism efforts. As a outcome of these efforts, some Uyghur separatist movements like the ETIM, TIP, ETLO, UREFT, and ULO have been labelled as terrorist groups by the United Nations and the US division of State. CCP took this chance to not only curb the increasing Islamic Radicalization in Xinjiang province but also employed it to counter any type of dissent towards PRC and labelled almost each and every Uyghur an extremist. On the lines of “Global War on Terror”, Beijing devised its personal policy of “Peoples war on Terror” in 2014, which is practically nothing but institutionalised persecution of Uyghur Muslims.
Xinjiang is the biggest province of China, and has a population of about 22 million. Uyghur Muslims are amongst the 55 officially recognized minority groups and constitute 45% of Xinjiang’s population. Even even though Uyghurs’ are the native to Xinjiang province, they are deemed foreign invaders and aliens due to their cultural, religious and ethical resemblance to the Central Asian Countries. The forceful annexation of Xinjiang in 1949 led to lots of uprisings, which more than decades led to various terrorist attacks on Chinese citizens as was noticed throughout the 2009 Urumqi riots.
Using the excuse of threats from radical Islamic groups, the CCP in 2017, established hundreds of so referred to as “re-education camps” or “vocational education and training centres,” operated by Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Government headed by Chen Quangua, CCP Committee Secretary. In these “re-education camps”, Uyghur detainees are place via ‘formal training’ to make them obtain political, religious and nationalistic beliefs as decreed by CPC. A Uyghur can be placed in these camps for the most trivial and inoffensive motives, like reciting Namaaz, getting an Islamic name, going to relatives outdoors China, sporting a lengthy beard or basically believing in Islam.
Uyghur Muslims detained in re-education camps are forced to consume pork, drink alcohol, praise CCP and its Leaders which includes XI JinPing, march with the Communist flag and denounce every and each and every belief which is deemed a threat by the CCP. As per estimates, almost 3 million Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities are getting held captive in these so-referred to as re-education camps. In lots of circumstances, each parents are placed in re-education camps leaving half a million kids with no parental care. Such kids are shifted to Communist boarding schools exactly where they are subjected to psychological and religious indoctrination.
Though the Uyghur neighborhood is getting subjected to mass surveillance, forced detention, kidnapping, murders, torture, illegal organ removal and denied simple human rights like following their personal religion, Muslim nations have ignored them as if they under no circumstances existed or that they weren’t getting persecuted for following Islamic beliefs.
Neither human rights violation nor the despicable and sacrilegious acts of converting Mosques into public toilet has irritated the Muslim globe. While their leaders preserve discussing Palestine and Kashmir, they under no circumstances speak about persecuted Uyghurs of Xinjiang.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan, when questioned in an interview about Uyghur persecution replied “Frankly I don’t know much about it.” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan claims Uyghur live happily in Xinjiang and Malaysia’s ex PM Mahathir Mohamad felt that “China shouldn’t be antagonised as it is beneficial to us”. The blatant hypocrisy of Muslim globe, particularly the triad of Pakistan, Malaysia and Turkey has been exposed and it is time for the globe to realise that these nations have selected Yuan more than Quran!
China’s all climate buddy Pakistan has not deemed it appropriate to raise a voice for the Uyghurs. While PM Khan keeps speaking about supporting and defending the Muslims neighborhood worldwide, his trumpet loses its sound when it comes to the concern of Uyghur Muslims. Not just the government of Pakistan but also its individuals, which includes liberals and the Mullahs are cautious not to espouse the Uyghur Muslims lead to as none dare to annoy Beijing.
The $ 61 Billion CPEC project and by playing the part of Pakistan’s godfather, Beijing has purchased Pakistan’s silence and Islamabad is therefore turning a blind eye to Chinese wrongdoings, be it its citizens/army private finding physically assaulted by Chinese CPEC labourers or its higher-ranking Generals/politicians finding caught in Corrupt CPEC bargains. By its silence, Pakistan has provided tacit approval to persecution of Uyghurs and therefore grow to be a passive accomplice of China.
Deep down, Pakistan largely remains a deeply fractured sectarian society with small or no tolerance for pluralism, as is evident from Punjabis dominating Balochis.
Unlike India who chose to be neutral throughout the cold war era, Pakistan had clear intent of siding with the West and simultaneously rising its clout in the Islamic globe. This foreign policy of opportunism came handy throughout the Soviet-Afghan war exactly where Pakistan played the important part of a middleman among the money wealthy West and ideologically fundamentalist Middle East.
(The author is Editor Brighter Kashmir, Columnist, and Political Analyst. Can be reached at [email protected]. Views expressed are private and do not reflect the official position or policy of TheSpuzz Online.)