Human rights violations against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province in northwestern China are making headlines again. The Communist Party of China came out with a new council when the information found by the UN investigation team was discussed around the world and this caused a great loss of image for the Chinese government.
Wang Yang, described as the fourth member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the party’s top body, accuses Uyghur Muslims of not moving in the right political direction and of not holding up the flag of patriotism. Wang Yang told representatives of the China Islamic Association. He calls on Muslim groups to be ready to fully implement the party’s basic vision on religion and for leaders to influence the ranks in this direction. Muslims should be guided by patriotism and equality. He also stated that an Islam appropriate to the Chinese situation is needed. Wang says it means the government orders it. In China, the party is the government.
Wang Yang’s advice is at the root of the alienation and persecution experienced by Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. The problem is that the government doesn’t believe in Muslims. The president meets the imams. China also has good relations with Muslim countries. Everything is alright. But there is a big flaw in the approach towards Muslims. The party is in the citadel of preconceptions. The Chinese government is fueling the Islamophobic narrative that all religious people are sympathizers of terrorists. The great leader of the Politburo is repeating the ancient nonsense that has no basis in the fact that if you are religious you have roots somewhere. It should create patriotism; He learns to be a socialist. China should make a mature Islam.
It must be remembered that this is said to the innocent believers of the religion who have declared without hesitation that nationalism and equality of status are part of the faith. A religion that has instituted forced almsgiving for a system where everyone wears and wears clothes. A lifestyle that for the first time in the world has granted women the right to property. A religion guided by the teachings of the Prophet that took a firm stand against caste discrimination. The community of believers in the world is proof that Muslims can become good believers by adhering to the social, political and cultural realities of their respective places.
The Chinese government still mistrusts Uighur Muslims just because they make a political demand for greater autonomy. The request was not religious. Xinjiang was formally annexed to China in 1949. The claim at that time was that autonomy status was granted. The Chinese government has branded Muslim gatherings as separatists to affirm their religious, cultural and linguistic identity. Doubtful of their patriotism, the Chinese government in the 1950s devised a plan for the global development of the Uyghur region. The end result of the plan was to smuggle Han Chinese there. A strategy to alienate the Uighurs in their own land.
The Han people cultivated the fertile soil of Xinjiang. Army retirees and their families were resettled to the province on government salaries. The Han people have permeated the social context of the province. They attacked the Uighurs under the pretext of government protection. They were uprooted from their natural fields of work. With that, the UN report shows shocking evidence of government human rights violations committed against Muslims they could not bear.
The most serious finding in the UN report is that crimes against humanity are being committed in Xinjiang. The report states that the system operating in Xinjiang under the guise of a labor training camp is a flagrant torture center. Mental, physical and sexual abuse occurs in the camp, which has no basic facilities. Young people from Muslim sects who follow religious practices are arrested and thrown into these camps. Here they are forced to follow the lifestyle dictated by the Chinese authorities. Those who do not give up will have to suffer severe torture.
According to the report, the training centers in Xinjiang provide all the facilities to those who collaborate with the authorities. The language of China’s responses to this report shows how much it annoys them. So let the Chinese Communist Party leaders learn Islam before teaching Muslims. Let the world learn what is happening in Xinjiang.
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