Conflicts between Uyghurs and Chinese stem from repression, not religious radicalism, local critics say. <\/p>\n
2015-03-16<\/p>\n
Ethnic Uyghurs from Hotan have dismissed a government representative\u2019s rosy account of Chinese policies in northwest China\u2019s restive Xinjiang region.<\/p>\n
Aizezi Musa, a representative from Xinjiang who participated in the recent National People\u2019s Congress, China\u2019s annual parliamentary session on March 5-15 in Beijing, praised Beijing\u2019s policies in an interview with state-run newspaper Global Times<\/em> on violence in the region, bonus points awarded to Uyghurs on the country\u2019s National College Entrance Examination, and regional development.<\/p>\n \u201cAizezi Musa lied and talked against the millions of Uyghurs for his own benefit,\u201d a Uyghur farmer from Hotan, who declined to be named, told RFA\u2019s Uyghur Service, responding to comments the official made. \u201cA lot of people, including my neighbor\u2019s friends can\u2019t live freely. They were worried about their safety day and night until they fled from their own land. We don\u2019t know where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n Hotan (Hetian in Chinese) prefecture in southwestern part of Xinjiang has been a hotbed of violent stabbing and shooting incidents between ethnic, mostly Muslim Uyghurs and Chinese security forces, with attacks coming amid a string of assaults and bombings across the region, formally called the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.<\/p>\n Musa, who is on the administrative commission of Hotan prefecture, had commented that the display of violence and deaths of innocent people in Hotan indicated \u201ca radical and extremist mindset [among Uyghurs] that is basically opposite to the unanimous teachings of Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen there are terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, some Western scholars apply double standards and make irresponsible remarks and accusations against China’s policy toward ethnic groups,\u201d he told Global Times<\/em>. \u201cThey indeed view China’s ethnic theories and policies in a biased way.\u201d<\/p>\n But the Uyghur farmer said whenever a conflict between Chinese and Uyghurs erupts, the government always blames the Uyghurs.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the police are aware of the injustices against the Uyghurs when they arrest us,\u201d he said, adding that he was once arrested for attending a Friday prayer service.<\/p>\n A Uyghur police officer tried to help him, but a Chinese one would not let him release the farmer, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAizezi Musa knows about these situations,\u201d the farmer told RFA. \u201cIn fact, all the government workers and Uyghur puppets governing us know how China oppresses Uyghurs. If there is no oppression why do most of the Uyghurs hate their lives?\u201d<\/p>\n Mehmetjan Osman, acting president of the Canada-based East Turkistan government in exile, also hit out at Musa\u2019s comments on the connection between religion and violence resistance.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Uyghur struggle has nothing to do with religious radicalism,\u201d he told RFA. \u201cAll Uyghur resistance fighters are fighting to get freedom for their people from Chinese colonialism and oppression. Of course, Uyghurs are Muslims, and Islam is reflected in their resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n No bonus points for Musa<\/strong><\/p>\n The farmer also denounced Musa\u2019s comments about bonus points awarded to ethnic minority students on the National College Entrance Examination, which has given some Xinjiang students access to the same education as that of their counterparts in China\u2019s developed eastern coastal areas.<\/p>\n He called the policy \u201cpoisonous.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf they want to help Uyghurs and want to provide high-quality education, why don\u2019t they bring that education to Uyghurs and build schools here?,\u201d he asked. \u201cWhy do they have to separate young kids from their families and their culture at young age? The purpose of the Chinese government is to assimilate Uyghurs and destroy our culture and religion by changing our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n The farmer also denounced Musa\u2019s comments on China\u2019s adoption of a slew of preferential policies that provide funds, technology and aid to undeveloped regions like Xinjiang.<\/p>\n In 2010, Xinjiang set up a mechanism under which 19 provinces or major cities, including prosperous Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province, would provide financial and technological support to the autonomous region, Musa said.<\/p>\n But the farmer from Hotan said most Uyghurs, and especially farmers, never see the financial assistance, and the policy has amounted to the Chinese moving in and taking the region\u2019s resources.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we have seen from China\u2019s development of Xinjiang is an increased Chinese police and army presence, increased Chinese teachings in Uyghur schools, and a hugely increased Chinese population in our lands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Chinese government said it is investing in and developing us. What are they developing? What this really means for Uyghurs is stealing our natural resources.\u201d<\/p>\n As an example, he cited Chinese companies and private Chinese investors digging tons of gold every year from Hotan gold-producing area.<\/p>\n Other recent clashes<\/strong><\/p>\n Clashes and other incidents involving Chinese police or security forces and Hotan\u2019s Uyghur residents have occurred this year.<\/p>\n Last week, police shot and killed as many as seven ethnic Uyghurs who had been \u201cacting suspiciously\u201d while they gathered at a restaurant in Qaraqash (Moyu in Chinese) county, prompting a security clampdown.<\/p>\n In February, a Uyghur farmer on his way to work in the fields was shot and killed by police in Bashquduqla village of Purchaqchi town in Hotan after he pulled a knife on officers attempting to detain him for acting \u201csuspicious,\u201d sources told RFA.<\/p>\n The month before, three Uyghur teenagers had killed three unarmed security personnel after the teenagers failed to stop at a security checkpoint in Keriye county (Yutian in Chinese) and resisted efforts to detain them.<\/p>\n Reported by RFA\u2019s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Conflicts between Uyghurs and Chinese stem from repression, not religious radicalism, local critics say. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-1716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1716"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=1716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}