ENOUGH EXCUSES OF WESTERN PROPAGANDA , CHINA’S OPPRESSION AGAINST UYGHUR MUST STOP

China must stop the heavy handed treatment of Uyghur and end the oppression that has prolonged since the annexation of East Turkistan (renamed Xinjiang) until today.

The Chinese government has based its oppression against the Uyghurs under the pretext of combacting “Three Evil Forces” of separatism, terrorism, and extremism.

It is unfortunate that , while China rejects the Western rivalry and competing for world dominence , however it embraces the Western notion of the Islamophobia and hate campaign against the Uyghurs Muslims that becomes the basis for its harsh crackdown on the Xinjiang province.

The Uyghur community has been under constant suspicion by the Chinese authorities for no other reason than just because of their ethnicity and their religion.

By this very notion that Islam is against the communist ideology , the existence of Uyghur Muslims in a province that was sovereign and in 1949 annexed by China, the Uyghurs are perceived as a threat to China by just their existence till this day.

Since then , China ‘s policy of the so called de-radicalizing the Uyghur Muslims has evolved into the present form of violence against their human rights and rights of existence.

The Uyghurs are now under the heaviest surveillance by the Chinese authorities both in China and abroad.

China has been increasing its harsh treatment of Uyghur by labelling them as terrorist and religiously radicalized.

We denounce this narrative that targets all Uyghurs because of their belief and ethnicity.

We are appalled that the Uyghurs have been subject to religious and ethnic persecution by Chinese authorities.

The term re-education of more than 1 million Uyghurs kept in prison-like detention camps as reported by the United Nations is of deep concern by the international community and cannot be acceptable.

We take cognizance of Turkey’s condemnation of China’s “policy of systematic assimilation against the Uyghur Turks” and its treatment of its Muslim ethnic Uyghur people as “a great embarrassment for humanity.”

The deafening silence of most Muslim majority countries, especially the OIC (the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) countries, over China’s crackdown on the Uyghurs , is unacceptable . Economic and financial support from China cannot be more important than the lives and rights of the Muslim community of China especially the Uyghur.

It is regretfull that Muslim countries have not spoken up for the Uyghur Muslim minorities subjected to abuse , oppression and cultural genocide in China.

China admitted that the Uyghurs are taken in the Chinese detention camps are part of their fight against terror.

But testimonies from detainees describe horrific abuse inside the camps, including rape and sterilisation.

We are shocked that in February 2019, Saudi Arabia expressed its “respect” for Chinese leader Xi Jinping for his repressive policy on Uyghurs before signing major commercial contracts with the country.

We are even outraged by Egypt’s action , which wants Beijing to finance its infrastructure, went so far as to allow Chinese police to come and interrogate Uyghur exiles on its soil in 2017.

We call for all Islsmic countries and organizations to express equal solidarity with Uyghurs as they expressed for Palestinian or Rohingya causes.

We remind all Islamic leaders leaders , they are equally responsible to the plight of the Uyghurs in China.

China’s investment offer cannot be the only overiding factor that avoid Muslim nations to voice their concerns on the reppressive Chinese policy against the Uyghurs for almost as long as what the Palestinians ( 1948 ) and the Rohingyas ( 1947 ) and Kashimirs ( 1947 ) have been facing.

While UK lead 23 countries at the United Nations condemning China over the country’s detention of Muslims , but UK also promotes a Chinese surveillance company that has been blacklisted by the US after it was “implicated” in human rights violations against the country’s Uyghur Muslim minority.

Add yet China’s ally Belarus made its own statement on behalf of 54 countries voicing approval of China’s counter terrorism programme in Xinjiang.

We despise  37 mainly Muslim majority countries who signed in support of Beijing’s crackdown on Uyghurs.

We take note , over the past several years the Chinese government has put pressure on countries wishing to develop closer ties with Beijing to arrest and hand over Uyghurs including Saudi and UAE.

Egypt is one of the countries that signed a letter in support of China’s crackdown on Uyghurs this summer.

Since Egypt signed a 2016 loan with the IMF, China has injected $16-20 billion worth of loans, investments and development projects into the Egyptian economy which have been primarily financed infrastructure, energy and telecommunication sectors, according to a new report by the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.

One of the conditions of the loan was attracting foreign investment. Two years ago Egyptian security forces raided houses where Uyghurs lived and sent them to the Chinese embassy in Egypt. Cairo also arranged for Chinese officials to interrogate Uyghurs inside Egyptian prisons.

All these actions by Muslim countries are regrettable. This reflects how maintaining relations with China is a priority than protecting the rights of the Uyghur Muslims.

We call all Muslim nations not to give in to China’s bait of economic investment “gifts”.

We express our deep concern of some Muslim nations recently have been deporting Uyghurs under the request of China. A case in Saudi Arabia is shocking that the authorities decided to deport an Uyghur who has just completed performing his Umrah pilgrimage. Knowing very well the Uyghur are undergoing harsh persecution by the Chinese government.

While we are critical of the western hegemony in the competition of world dominance against China, we cannot condone the inhuman treatment of the Uyghur Muslims by the China authorities.

All nations must voice the rights of the Uyghurs in accordance with the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the international law.

It is unbecoming of Muslim nations to blind themselves with the Chinese investment offers and turn away from listening to the plights of the Uyghur Muslims.

While this is in contradiction with the principles of truth , justice and rights in the Islamic jurisprudence , it is also a clear disregard of the the Islamic call for unity and brotherhood.

We reiterate that the continuing denial by China of its repression , with the excuse of western propaganda , cannot hold water endlessly , the fact that there are ample evidences by independent reports of abuse , tortures and rapes , forced confessions cannot be obscured from the international community forever.

Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid
President MAPIM