First Tibet, Don’t Forget the Uighurs

WSJ reports that ethnic Turkic Uighurs in the northwest region of Xinjiang have fallen into the crosshairs of Chinese authorities seeking to ensure that their aspirations for autonomy are muted following on an outbreak of violent protests by activists in Tibet.

Chinese paramilitary police sealed off a market town in central China last month and detained dozens of ethnic Uighurs, said local residents and a government official.

The arrests, which occurred in late March in Henan province but weren’t reported at the time, appear to be part of an expanding Chinese government effort to prevent dissatisfaction among Turkic Uighurs from exploding into the kind of unrest that has swept Tibetan areas of the country.

Witnesses said hundreds of armed police descended on the Henan town of Shifosi, where there is a significant population of Uighur jade traders. “About 50 Uighurs were arrested,” said a local government official.

…Uighur activists say that once unrest started in Tibetan areas in early April, Chinese authorities began rounding up suspected Uighur dissidents in an effort to forestall similar protests in Xinjiang during the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in August.

The Foreign Policy Association’s Central Asia blog had this to say about any possible Uighur-Tibet connection in the recent spate of protests against Chinese rule…

“I have not come across much evidence which showcases Uighur, Tibetan, and one may want to include Taiwanese, collaboration in protesting for greater autonomy against the Chinese government, but these protests are no doubt piggy-backing on each other. . . With the Olympic Torch literally shining a light on their situations, it will be important to follow how these movements may either work together, copy each other, or follow each other in protesting the Chinese government’s policies in their region.”

Whether or not there is collaboration, these suppressed groups clearly view the Olympics as an opportunity for the world to hear their call for greater freedom from China’s rule.

In the meantime, China has put forth claims of suppressing terrorist operations in Xinjiang, citing recent activities by Islamic groups considered to be terrorists by the Communist government.

From the NY Times, which also reported on the Uighur protests…

Two weeks before the reported protest in Hotan, China announced the discovery of what it called a terrorist plot in Xinjiang, which it said involved the smuggling of combustible liquids onto a commercial airliner by a Uighur woman who had spent time in neighboring Pakistan.

Officials called the incident part of a terrorist campaign by a radical Islamic independence group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.

China’s crackdown on the Uighurs, however, may breed the same kind of radicalization it seeks to suppress. Some of this is largerly due to the way Uighur prisoners are treated and interrogated once they are incarcarated by Chinese officials.

Charles Cummings at The Guardian recently wrote this account from his book (“Typhoon”) due to be published in June…

Amnesty International has reported numerous incidents of torture, from cigarette burns on the skin to submersion in water or raw sewage. Prisoners have had toenails extracted by pliers, been attacked by dogs and burned with electric batons, even
cattle prods.

In Typhoon, I relate the terrifying true story of a prisoner in Xinjiang who had horse hair inserted into the tip of his penis. Throughout this diabolical torture, the victim was forced to wear a metal helmet on his head. Why? Because a previous inmate had been so traumatised by his treatment in the prison that he had beaten his own head against a radiator in an attempt to take his own life.

This is the reality of life in modern Xinjiang. Quite what the Chinese hope to gain from their inhumane behaviour remains unclear. According to Corinna-Barbara Francis, a researcher with Amnesty’s East Asia team, “the intensified repression of Uighurs by the Chinese authorities is in danger of contributing to the very outcome that China claims it is warding against – the radicalisation of the population and the adoption of violent responses to the repression.”

Explore posts in the same categories: China, Islamophobia, Muslim, Tibet, Uighurs, sinophile

Tags: Bejing, China, Islamophobia, Muslim, Olympics, sinophile, Tibet, Uighurs, Xinjiang

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.