Page 8 - Pakistan Link - October 19, 2018

P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – OCTOBER 19, 2018 OPINION
Pakistan Protests China’s Persecution of Uyghur Muslims

n By Dr Mahjabeen Islam tals are converted into re-education camps.
Toledo, Ohio When they come a black hood is placed over
the head, and in the internment camps prison
t was a wonderful start to Iran Khan’s uniforms, shaved heads and political indoc-
ascent to premiership that the Dutch trination begin. Baths are rare and washing of
Icartoon contest was cancelled. Appears hands and feet is not allowed, as it resembles
Foreign Minister Qureshi was convincing in ablution. If the prisoners comply, they are re-
his dialogue with the Dutch leased; if they do not, insanity or death await.
and a crisis and killings were Th ose who have left the internment camps and
averted. Th is foreign policy then China itself have told the same story of
winning streak is continuing, conditions in Xinjiang.
at least in some sensitive is- Assimilation into the Chinese mold takes
sues. the form of internment camps and orphan-
“China is treating Islam ages, both of which are overfl owing. Commu-
like a mental illness” is the nistically called “child welfare guidance cen-
title of an article in a recent issue of Th e At- ters” these massive orphanages house Uyghur
lantic. And the deeply nationalistic, hardline children separated from their parents, where
rule of President Xi Jinping looks at Islam like they are locked up like farm animals in a shed.
the diseases of depression or addiction. He Sinifi cation of these children, needless to say,
has interned one million Uyghurs in intern- is easy.
ment camps, called “re-education camps” to Rebiya Kadeer, President of the World
“cleanse” the mind of Islam which is likened nese group, have migrated to Xinjiang in an- Ramadan is banned, no beards or veils Uyghur Council said: “Th e real intent is to
to an ideological illness, akin to a virus in their other eff ort toward Sinifi cation of Xinjiang. can be publicly visible, passports have to be eliminate Uyghurs as a distinct ethnic group”.
brain. Here they are brainwashed to praise the Th is Sinifi cation was proceeding at a languid surrendered and saying salam-alaikum can Turkey and Malaysia have protested but the
Communist Party, sing nationalistic songs all pace until a couple of years ago when Chen most vocal protest has been from the most un-
day, study President Xi’s vision of China, con- Quanguo arrived. Quanguo had created an in- Turkey and Malaysia have protested likely places: US Vice-President Mike Pence
fess to and apologize for praying. Th ey are also tense surveillance system in Tibet from 2011- but the most vocal protest has been called on the Chinese government to release
forced to eat pork and drink alcohol. For resis- 2016 and was so successful in crushing dissent the one million prisoners that it is holding in
tant subjects there is torture, solitary confi ne- there, that his system has been implemented from the most unlikely places: US re-education camps for political indoctrina-
ment and death. in Xinjiang. Vice-President Mike Pence called on tion and denunciation of religious beliefs. US
Th e Qing Dynasty reasserted control of It is this century’s new Gulag. And is the Chinese government to release Senator Marco Rubio and American UN rep-
Xinjiang in the 19thcentury. Xinjiang, popu- considered pre-genocidal. Reminiscent of the the one million prisoners that it resentative Nikki Haley have been similarly
lation ten million, is in northwest China and Rohingya genocide by Myanmar. excoriating.
borders Pakistan’s Gilgit Baltistan to the south. Teachers ask children to spy on par- is holding in re-education camps China has arrested 50 Uyghur women
Th e Uyghurs are Turkic people, linguistically, ents and report their praying or reading the for political indoctrination and married to Pakistani men in Gilgit-Baltistan.
culturally and ethnically close to Central Asia, Qur’an, neighbors spy on neighbors, the entire denunciation of religious beliefs. US And Pakistan has done nothing in response.
despite a long history of Chinese rule. In 1933 population is monitored through GPS tech- Senator Marco Rubio and American Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Religious
and again in 1944, ETIM or East Turkestan nology and DNA-sampled. Men are sent to in- Aff airs, Pir Noorul Haq Qadri, said strict reg-
Islamic Movement, tried to secede and China ternment camps, and satellite images show ex- UN representative Nikki Haley have ulations and laws fuel rather than counter ex-
responded ruthlessly. Chinese offi cials deny pansion of the internment camps, and in some been similarly excoriating tremism. To promote religious harmony, Chi-
the existence of the internment camps, and villages men cannot be seen, only women and na should exercise patience, the minister told
have hinted at terrorist activity in Xinjiang, children. Th ere are ghost towns where no one send you to an internment camp. Copies of China’s ambassador to Pakistan, Yao Jing. He
but there is no evidence of this. talks to others. Women are sent to internment the Qur’an have been burned and mosques also suggested that a delegation of Pakistani
Many of the Han, the predominant Chi- camps also. have been closed down. Factories and hospi- UYGHUR, P21

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