By The Editor
There are more than 50 different national minorities in China who together number less than 100 million comprising only 6-7 per cent of country’s population. Five autonomous regions have been established for five biggest groups and these are Inner Mongolia for the Mongols, Guangxi for the Zhuangs, Sinkiang or Xinjiang for the Uighurs, Ningxia for the Huis, and Tibet or Xizang for the Tibetans. In theory these autonomous regions are supposed to have control over their own affairs but in practice it is not so and the majority Han Chinese manage everything. Xinjiang is the only region or province in China with Muslim majority and it is also the largest province occupying more than a sixth of Chinese territory spanning Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mongolia, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan. It has rich deposits of oil, coal and natural gas. Beijing government has been encouraging Han Chinese to migrate to Xinjiang in large numbers thus reducing native Uighurs to minority. This aroused local Uighurs who took arms clandestinely in order to protect and preserve their distinct identity.
Uighurs belong to Turkic race and have been living in peace till late 1980s when they sensed that unless they rose up unitedly they would be systematically and ruthlessly reduced into minority in their own homeland. China too had reason to believe that their country was facing danger after the fall of Soviet Union in 1991 and the emergence of Muslim countries like Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan which would encourage the Uighurs to struggle for their own separate homeland. In the meantime, China’s diplomacy with Islamic countries and generous assistance to Pakistan have kept them from extending help to the Uighurs. Conspiracy theories claim that Uighurs are supported by the United States (US) or India in order to create misunderstanding between China and Pakistan. Surprisingly, Islamabad had been seen to incline more towards Beijing and turned blind eye to the plight of their fellow-Muslims in spite of the fact that mosques have been closed, religious texts were destroyed, Islamic education was restricted, fasting during Ramadan was prohibited and other repressive measures. Pakistanis criticise Uighurs for their un-Islamic behaviour and fondness for alcoholic drink who retaliate that Pakistanis too are doing the same.
Observing that Uighurs lack public support from Islamic countries, China is resorting to more extreme measures like encouraging inter-ethnic marriages between majority Hans and the Uighurs, thereby assimilating them into Han Chinese society including forced sterilisation and abortion. Forced labour, torture and killing of innocent Uighurs even for alleged crimes are common and portrayed to the outside world as domestic terrorists. Depending on who China was talking to, money or offer of small arms supplies has kept the beneficiaries mum and refusing to intervene. Washington-based NGO (Non Governmental Organisation) has come out with facts of atrocities and forced marriages being perpetrated by China on Uighurs which amount to genocide and hence crime against humanity.