Police in China’s troubled Xinjiang region carry out frequent ID checks, conduct round-the-clock patrols.<\/p>\n
2016-01-06<\/p>\n
Tight security restrictions in ethnic Uyghur areas of northwestern China\u2019s restive Xinjiang region are being extended into the new year, with police carrying out daily patrols in villages and checking the identification of worshippers at mosques, Uyghur sources say.<\/p>\n
Patrols in one township in Guma (in Chinese, Pishan) county in the western prefecture of Hotan (Hetian) are now carried out \u201cday and night,\u201d a Mokuyla township police officer told RFA\u2019s Uyghur Service.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our patrols, we include one official policeman, three members of the auxiliary police, and 10 militia members from each village that we inspect,\u201d RFA\u2019s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt night, we patrol until 2:00 a.m., and we stop anyone found walking around so that we can check their backgrounds and identification,\u201d he said, adding that daytime patrols also look in on at least five village families each day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ask how many people currently live in their homes, whether any family members have left the area, and whether any fire hazards are present,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Police also investigate residents\u2019 guests to see if they have come from out of town, with police confiscating visitors\u2019 identification cards until they have returned to their own homes, he said.<\/p>\n
Village residents wishing to visit relatives or seek medical treatment in other places must first obtain a letter from village police describing past political involvements, the officer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will then bring that letter to our office, and we will enter everything into a data base,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we find nothing wrong, we will stamp the letter for approval, and they will then take that to the township\u2019s political law office. There, they will receive their so-called \u2018green card\u2019 allowing them to travel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Religious controls<\/strong><\/p>\n In neighboring Aksu (Akesu) prefecture to the north, government workers also check the identification papers of Uyghur worshippers as they enter local mosques for Friday prayers, a cadre in Aksu’s Awat (Awati) county told RFA, also speaking on condition he not be named.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot allow anyone from out of town to pray in our town\u2019s mosques unless they are registered in town as someone\u2019s guest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Students, government workers, teachers, and members of the ruling Chinese Communist Party are not allowed to enter the mosques at all, he said.<\/p>\n Members of these restricted groups are also barred from taking part in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot allow any of them to fast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe find out if any students are fasting by conducting \u2018tea drinking campaigns,\u2019\u201d he said, adding that the neighbors of government workers and students are also questioned regarding the behavior of those living near them.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we find that any Party members are fasting, we will carry out political education work and give them a warning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Heavy-handed rule<\/strong><\/p>\n Rights groups accuse the Chinese authorities of heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, including violent police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people.<\/p>\n China has vowed to crack down on what it calls the \u201cthree evils\u201d of terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n But experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from Uyghur separatists, and that domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence that has left hundreds dead since 2012.<\/p>\n Reported by Eset Sulaiman for RFA\u2019s Uyghur Service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Richard Finney.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Police in China’s troubled Xinjiang region carry out frequent ID checks, conduct round-the-clock patrols.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-2359","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\/2359","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=2359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2359"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=2359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}