B.RAMAN
According to the Xinhua news agency, the Xinjiang
authorities have arrested 11 more suspected terrorists in connection with the
investigation of a violent incident on April 23,2013, in a town in Kashgar’s Bachu
county, 1200 kms south-west of Urumqi, in which 21 persons allegedly belonging to different communities were
killed.
2. Since the clash, 19 arrests have been made by
the police from the Kashgar Prefecture,
the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin and Urumqi.
3. The Xinjiang Police have blamed the clash on a
new terrorist group headed by one Qasim
Muhammat, which, according to them, was founded in September 2012.
4. The Police have alleged that since early December 2012, the members of this group
used to gather at the house of one Muhanmetemin Barat,
to undergo training with the help of
video clips.
5. The Police further alleged that in March, they
fabricated explosive devices and tested them. The clash occurred when the
Police and some members of the local community co-operating with the police
tried to arrest them.
6. The World Uighur Congress (WUC) based in Munich
and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples’ Organisation (UNPO) based in Holland
have strongly questioned the police version and called upon the European
Parliament to urge an international enquiry into the incident.
7.The Chinese authorities are worried that despite
frequent occurrence of violent incidents in different parts of Xinjiang, they
have not been able to convince the international community that these incidents
are due to terrorism sponsored from outside.
8. In an article contributed to the “Global Times”
of the Communist Party of China, an associate research fellow of the Sociology
Institute with the Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences has stated: “The Bachu
incident reflects the severe social
conflicts within Xinjiang. In recent years, Xinjiang has achieved substantial
progress in terms of economic development, the social insurance system and
people's livelihoods. However, the social conflicts in Xinjiang remain
complicated.
“While the policies made by local authorities are
mainly to improve the economy, they are still inadequate in fully and timely
responding to the political demands of ethnic groups. Social conflicts have
been accumulating rather than being resolved.
“The Bachu incident has aroused international
attention, and external observers mainly cast doubt on whether this violent
attack was really terrorism.
“The nature of terrorist attacks in China is not
very different with that in Western countries. They are, cruelly and
inhumanely, targeted randomly at innocent civilians.
“What's different is that the terrorist attacks in
Western countries can be traced to external input, while those in Xinjiang have
shown a tendency to come from inside.
“There have been terrorist activities in Xinjiang,
but so far there hasn't been enough evidence to show a concrete terrorist
organization exists.
“A terrorist organization needs an explicit
political doctrine, leading figures and a set of organizational bodies to raise
funds, train its staff, purchase arms and support logistics. Judging from this,
there is no terrorist organization in Xinjiang.
“The terrorist activities are committed mainly
under the influence of terrorist thought and partly because of dissatisfaction
with local governments and the Han people.
“In the long run, violent terrorism is likely to
take place in Xinjiang again, and a terrorist organization in the real sense
may emerge. But terrorism is preventable and its head can be lowered. It depends
on whether we conduct solid work.”
9.The PLA’s concerns over the internal security
situation in the peripheral regions inhabited by Tibetans and Uighurs were
reflected at a meeting convened by the Central Military Commission at Beijing
on May 2,2013, to underline the PLA’s role in the economic development and
internal stability of China’s soft Western region.
10.According to Xinhua, addressing the meeting, Xu
Qiliang, Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission, said the military
should prioritize improving people's livelihoods and addressing issues that
affect their most immediate interests, while participating in the development
of western regions.
11.He asked the PLA to make utmost efforts to maintain border
security, enhance solidarity between the military, local governments and the
public, as well as to uphold ethnic solidarity.
12.Xinhua has quoted him as saying as follows: “The
prosperity, development and stability of western regions are of strategic
importance to national security and development. The military should be fully aware that helping develop the west boosts
the military's capacity to carry out diversified tasks.”
13. There are no indications that the meeting might
have been triggered by the Indo-Chinese stand-off in Eastern Ladakh, but the
PLA’s inability to strengthen internal security in the Tibetan and Uighur areas
and signs of continuing anti-Han alienation among the Tibetans and Uighurs is a
factor that needs to be continuously monitored and assessed by Indian policy
makers.( 5-5-2013)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd),
Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director,
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre For
China Studies. Twitter: @SORBONNE75 )
