Pages

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Muslim Uighurs of China: Strangers in their own Land, Islam and Human Rights, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Human Rights
Muslim Uighurs of China: Strangers in their own Land

Underlining his sense of alienation was the fact that he had to leave China in order to reach his hometown of Kashgar. Because he couldn't get direct flights, he flew from Beijing to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, before traversing treacherous mountain passes to Xinjiang by hired car. "Sometimes the strangest thing," he says, "is to be a stranger in your own land."

It is a sensation that has intensified since the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks. As the U.S. wages an antiterrorist war in Afghanistan, China has been seeking international support for its own campaign against Uighur separatists in Xinjiang - by painting them as terrorists with overseas links.

The anti-separatist rhetoric from Beijing has grown increasingly strident in recent weeks, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzhao claiming there was proof linking Uighur agitators with "the bin Laden clique."

Meanwhile, two Xinjiang separatists were reportedly executed and a number of others sentenced to jail. "They [Beijing leaders] want to take advantage of this situation and clean house," says Dru Gladney, a Central Asia expert at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.

http://newageislam.com/muslim-uighurs-of-china--strangers-in-their-own-land--/islam-and-human-rights/d/825


0 comments: