Chinese Government should re-visit its wrong policies in Xingjiang

Chinese Government should re-visit its wrong policies in Xingjiang
Officially more than 150 people have been killed in clashes with the Chinese forces while suppressing the protests in Muslim dominated Chinese Xinjiang province. The region has been closed and curfew has been imposed in the major cities including capital Urumqi and Kashgar. It will be quite interesting to mention that this province just lies in our neighbourhood on the side of Leh and Aksia Chin which happened to be part of Kashmir (prior to 1962) falls under this Province. Ethinically this province is inhabited by number of races like Uighurs, Hans, Kazhaks etc. Religiously this is a muslim majority province. Xinjiang Province is thinly populated comprising 1.6% of chinese population and is 1/6th of the total land area of China. The area is rich in Oil and Gas resources. The region has its borders with eight countries and the famous silk route passes through this region via its cultural capital Kashgar. Last but not least the People’s Republic of China conducted its first nuclear test at Lop Nur, Xinjiang, on 16 October 1964.
This area like other areas in the region was under Muslim rule till Eighteenth Century when the area was taken over by the Qing Empire. After that there have been number of uprisings some successful but short lived and others unsuccessful. In 1865, Yaqub Beg, a warlord from the neighbouring Khanate of Kokand, entered Xinjiang via Kashgar, and conquered nearly all of Xinjiang over the next six years and remained in its possesion till 1875 when it was re-conquered by the Qings. Finally during the period of 1944-1949 the region remained independent republic by the name of East Turkestan Republic which came to end when People’s Republic of China merged this region with the rest of Chinese territory (1949). The autonomous region of the People’s Republic of China was established on 1 October 1955, replacing the province.
Right from 1949 there have been intermittant uprising on the part of Muslim (Uighurs) people of Xingjiang which has number of reasons besides cultural ones. First and foremost is that after 1949 there has been large scale manufactured migration of Han Chinese community in the Xingjiang province which has made native people suspicious about the intention of the Chinese Government. It is reported that in some areas of Xinjiang where in 1949 the ratio of Uighur to Han Chinese was 1:9 has now turned into 9:1. At the time of the Communist revolution in 1949, Xinjiang was home to five million people, of which only six percent were Han Chinese. Now, it has a population of 19 million, of which only 42 percent are Uighurs. Beijing has resorted to a policy of ethnic cleansing in Xingjiang. Despite rich mineral wealth of Xinjiang, more than 90% of local Muslims live below the poverty line. China is pouring money into the province, but the investment boom has mostly benefited the Han Chinese population.
In 1990 after few skirmishes about 50 Uighurs were killed. In 1997 Police arrests lead to clashes resulting in 9 deaths of native Muslims. However, there have been number of execution carried on by the Chinese authorities which go unnoticed under the garb of scuttling fight against so called terrorism snatching the basic living rights of Muslims in this Province. After September 2001 WTC attack the things in this province have been calm though Chinese Government has been claiming presence of East Turkistan Islamic Movement which is blamed for calling separation from China. In 2007, 18 Uighur men were killed believed to be members of ETIM.
The present public uprising has erupted due to killing of two Uighur men in an industrial dispute by the Han Chinese. Chinese Government instead of punishing the culprits has killed the protesting unarmed natives. The dissent has been brewing due to Chinese Government’s wrong policies in the region and the current incident gave a vent to it. However, Chinese Government has used a mere brute force to curb purely democratic protests by the Xinjiang Muslims. Uighurs can expect little support from the world powers because of their crime being Muslims. United States which is otherwise on the opposite path so far its polices are related is shoulder to shoulder here with Chinese too to crush Uighur Muslims. East Turkistan Islamic Movement has been declared terrorist movement by the United State like Hamas in Palestine and LeT in Pakistan. United Nations too has declared it a terrorist organization. Other players like Russia, Pakistan and OIC all depend on the Chinese support one way or the other.
Let the good sense prevail upon the world community, United Nations in general and Muslim world (OIC & Arab League) in particular. They should take up the matter with Chinese authorities and pressurize them to stop carrying ethnic cleansing of Xinjiang Muslims by way of protecting their culture and ethnic composition besides giving them due share in the economy. Rather than looking outside for the causes of peaceful protests like Mrs. Kadeer’s Uighur Congress and others Chinese Government should revisit its wrong policies and try to win the hearts of our brethren in Xinjiang.
By Hamid Nilnagi
(haamidi2003@yahoo.co.in)
(hamidnilnagi.blogspot.com)