20th October 2020

 Musings.......

Uighur Muslims and Chinese Communist Party 

The Uighur are a Turkic- speaking minority ethnic group culturally affiliated to the Central and East Asia. Within China, the Uighurs are native to the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. 

The Chinese government recognises the Uighurs as a regional minority within a multicultural nation. The Chinese reject the idea of the Uighurs being an indigenous group. 

The Uighurs traditionally inhabited the Tarim Basin within the Taklamakan desert. Over the times they remained as independent states and were controlled by many civilisations including the Chinese, Mongols, the Tibetans and Turks. Islam has played a major role in Uighur culture and identity. 

Initially the term Uighur was used to refer to a small coalition of Tiele tribes in Northern China, Mongolia and Altai Mountains, which was later usurped by the Uyghur Khaganate. 

The fall of the Uyghur Khaganate in the year 842, led to mass migration of Uighurs into the Tarim Basin in present day Xingiang, China. 

The Chinese official figures place population of Uighurs within the Xinjiang region to be about 12 million, thought actual size may be subject to dispute. 

In 1912 the Qing dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China. 

Twice in 1933 and 1944 the Uighurs managed to stage uprisings and successfully gained independence ( backed by Soviet Russia ) - 

The First East Turkestan Republic - with its capital in Kashgar was short lived and was overthrown by the Chinese army in 1933. 

The Second East Turkestan Republic was a state backed by the Russian Communist state and served as its puppet from 1944 till 1949. 

In 1949, Mao declared People’s Republic of China and turned the Second East Turkestan Republic into an Autonomous area which is the present day Xinjiang. 

Uighur identity remains fragmented - 

- [ ] Pan Islamic vision - led by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement 

- [ ] Pan Turkic vision - led by East Turkestan Liberation Organisation 

- [ ] Third gp. would like a “ Uyghurstan” State - led by East Turkestan Independence movement. 

The Chinese Communist Party is expanding detention camps in an effort

to suppress the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang. 

At least 1 million Uighurs have been interned since 2017 in more than 85 identified camps within Xinjiang. Most of the construction occurred between 2017-2018. 

Initially the Chinese government denied the existence of Concentration camps, however, after the images of camps under construction and watch towers emerged , they had to acknowledge its existence.  The Chinese Government officially call them as “Re-education Centres” for Uighurs. 

Xinjiang becomes so important for China as the area and its land is rich in oil and mineral supplies. Xinjiang is China’s largest producer of natural gas and is a key part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. 

In 2017 the Xinjiang government passed a law prohibiting men from growing long beards and women from wearing veils and dozens of mosques have also been demolished. There have also been news of Mosques been converted into Toilets and acts of forced sterilisation within the camps. 

Millions of the Uighurs being held in camps have to attend compulsory party

Classes, where they have to hear speeches of Chinese premier, sometimes even for hours. 

They are forcibly taught and have to take tests on political subjects such as the party congress. Those who don’t pass would not be allowed to leave. 

Obedience and appeasement seem to save some people from the camps and prisons. Han- Chinese spouses and formal Chinese education could also save one from internment, according to a Guardian report. 

In a letter to the UN Human Rights council, 22 countries, mainly European and excluding the US responded to disturbing detentions of Uighurs minority Muslims by condeming the Chinese leadership. 

It was shocking that within few days of the complaint, 37 countries defended China’s “ remarkable achievements in the field of human rights” by protecting their country from “ terrorism, separatism and religious extremism”. The list of signatories included the Muslim majority countries of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. 

This exemplifies the changed geopolitical graph of China and its might to influence smaller countries over which it may have economic hold. 

Whatever be the Chinese Communist Parties official response, it is of grave concern that around 12 million people are living under constant threat of extermination and internment in concentration camps. 

Re-education camp basically strips one of their cultural and ethnic identity.  Mixed marriages with Chinese is encouraged among Uighurs, sometimes the only

way to escape internment. 

It would not be wrong to say that the Chinese Communist Government is conducting a systematic genocide of its minority Uighur population. Unless the international community takes notice and acts, the Uighur Muslims would become a relic of the past. 

Food for Thought.......

RC 

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