Pakistanis voice protest against China’s persecution of Uyghur Muslims; Pakistani Govt remains silent

Pakistanis have raised their voice against China’s persecution of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang province, JustEarth News reported. However, the Pakistan Government has remained silent due to its close ties with China.

There are some Pakistani media outlets talking about the persecution of Uyghurs. The Pakistani media is quoting Western media reports and human rights bodies, which were completely ignored by the government.

At one point Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan denied the allegations against the Beijing authorities saying he did not believe them. On April 19, Qazi Javid, in his column in Urdu in Jasarat, reminds China of its treatment against Uyghur women when China expressed its concern over Afghan women being ill-treated by the Taliban, reported JustEarth News.

While China has declared that it does not ‘interfere’ in the internal affairs of other countries, however, it has decided to express its ‘concern’ abound the Taliban not allowing Afghan women to enter schools and colleges and take up employment.

There is also opposition to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that traverses through Pakistan from Xinjiang to Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. Pakistanis, especially the Islamic clergy on one hand and the ‘nationalists’ on the other resent the Chinese presence.

Qazi Javid said, “Yes, this is the same China where the women of the Muslim Uyghur community are left naked, handcuffed, and humiliated in front of humanoid dogs and other animals for practising Muslim beliefs,” while reacting to China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s statement regarding the ill-treatment of women by the Taliban. ”

“A few are punished until they die and the perpetrators are told not to allow them to die too soon but to let them suffer as much as they can,” Qazi Javid writes quoting a report prepared by a Britain-based human rights body. “The Muslim world and free people around the world want to ask China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang if China is not committing genocide against the Uyghur Muslim community,” JustEarth News quoted Javid.

According to Legal Opinion published in the UK in 2017, which is reviewed annually, there is clear evidence that the Chinese government is complicit in the crimes of genocide against the Uyghur community.

Qazi Javid stated a case can be filed against China in the International Court of Justice. The legal opinion states that extensive evidence in north-western China indicates the Chinese government intends to exterminate this Muslim minority (the Uyghurs).

“Evidence shows that measures such as deliberately harming Uyghur Muslims during detention, terminating women’s ability to bear children and promoting abortion were taken, while children of Uyghur families were forcibly removed from their homes. There is also evidence of shifting them outside their community,” JustEarth News quoted Javid. Qazi Javid alleges that “Chinese President Xi Jinping himself is responsible for these crimes against humanity.”

Islamophobia against Uyghur Muslims in China

China made a wise choice by utilising Pakistan, an Islamic nation, to oppose the Western world’s campaign against human rights violations of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. In September last year, Pakistan led 68 countries at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, opposing what they called interference in China’s internal affairs under the pretext of human rights. They said Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet were China’s internal affairs and there should be no politicisation of human rights and double standards.

A detailed examination of China’s impositions on Uyghur Muslims creates a suspicion that Xinjiang is being used as a laboratory for de-Islamisation. These impositions include discouragement from observing Islamic practices like fasting during the holy month of Ramzan, eating halal meat, giving children Islamic names, and dresses for men and women that identify with their religion.

In the two joint statements, Pakistan has very conveniently ignored the basic cause of rights violation: Uyghur Muslims’ insistence on living in accordance with their faith (Islam) is not tolerated by the Communist government. As a result, Uyghur Muslims face the worst kind of Islamophobia in Xinjiang.

[with inputs from ANI]