B.RAMAN
The anger against the Chinese in the Xinjiang province has two dimensions ---ethnic and religious.
2.The ethnic dimension is due to the Han colonisation of the province, which was independent before 1949 under the name Eastern Turkestan. Since it was occupied by the Chinese and incorporated into the People's Republic of China in October 1949, the Han colonisation has reduced the percentage of Uighurs in the province from 80 to 45. The percentage of Han Chinese has gone up from 10 to 40 . In Urumqi, the capital, the Hans constitute about 75 per cent of the population and the Uighurs only about 15 per cent.
3.The religious dimension is due to the restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities on the observance of the Muslim religion and the alleged eradication of the Islamic character of the towns. These restrictions relate to the construction of new mosques. The religious anger is also due to the alleged demolition of some old mosques to make way for the construction of public buildings and shopping malls and
forcing meat shops and restaurants to remain open and serve customers during the fasting period. The Muslims allege that new buildings are forced to be constructed according to modern architectural style and not according to traditional Islamic style. They further allege that as a result the historic Islamic landscape of the area has been changing. Another cause for the religious anger is the restrictions on travel to Saudi Arabia for Haj and Umra pilgrimages.
4. While the ethnic anger is confined to the Uighurs, who now constitute the largest single ethnic group, but no longer in a majority, the religious anger has affected all Muslims----Uighurs as well as non-Uighurs from Central China and migrants from the Central Asian Republics. The percentage of Muslims in the province has come down from 90 in 1949 to 60 now, but they are still in a majority.
5. These two dimensions have given rise to two different organisations opposing the Chinese rule. The ethnic dimension has given rise to the World Uighur Congress (WUC), which was established on April 16, 2004 in Munich, Germany, by merging the East Turkestan National Congress and the World Uighur Youth Congress, which had been active for many years before 2004. It describes its main objective as to promote the right of the Uighur people to use peaceful, nonviolent, and democratic means to determine the political future of East Turkestan.
6. The Urumchi uprising of July 5 and 6,2009, followed less than two months after the WUC had held its Third General Assembly in Washington, DC from May 21-25, 2009 . Delegates and observers from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Sweden, Turkey and the the US attended the Assembly. Ms. Rebiya Kadeer was re-elected as the President of the WUC.
7. Mrs. Rebiya Kadeer, an Uighur human rights activist, was released from detention by the Chinese authorities under US pressure and allowed to migrate to the US in 2005. Her nomination by human rights groups in the West for consideration for the possible award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 was denounced by the Chinese as an insult to the Uighur people.
8.The 58-year-old Rebiya was arrested by the Chinese in 1999 on charges of endangering national security by indulging in anti-State activities. She was also accused of income tax evasion and indulging in narcotics smuggling and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.
9.In November 2006, the Chinese prosecuted two
of her sons on charges of tax invasion. One of them--- Alimu Ahbudurimu--- was jailed for seven years and fined. The other ---Kahaer Ahbudurimu--- was only fined. Mrs Kadeer had alleged in May 2006 that her two sons and a daughter had been taken into custody by the Chinese to prevent them from meeting a US Congressional team visiting Xinjiang.
10.Before her arrest in 1999, Mrs Kadeer had owned a prosperous department store and started a charity helping other Muslim women find work. She had even been appointed to a seat on one of the Chinese government's highest consultative bodies. Things changed for her in 1996 after her husband Sidik Rouzi managed to flee to the US. Her persecution, detention, trial and conviction followed thereafter.
11. Among other political prisoners in detention in Xinjiang were: Tohti Tunyaz, who was studying in Japan. He was arrested in 1998 while on a trip to Xinjiang to gather material for his post-graduate thesis on Uighur history. While there, he had allegedly obtained a number of old documents, which Chinese prosecutors described as state secrets; Abdulghani Memetemin, a teacher and journalist who was sentenced on 24 June 2003 to nine years in jail for "providing state secrets for an organisation outside the country"; and Muhammed Tohti Metrozi, who had fled to Pakistan from Xinjiang in 2003 and sought the protection of the local office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had him kidnapped and handed over to the Chinese.
12. The WUC is funded openly and helped in other ways such as the training of its cadres by the Congressionally-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) of the US and the Holland-based Unrepresented Nations' and Peoples' Organisation (UNPO). Its membership used to largely consist of Uighurs from the diaspora outside China---mainly from the Western countries. Only during the recent Urumqi uprising it became evident that it has built up a following at least in the Uighur student community in Urumqi. The WUC is a secular and liberal organisation, which opposes Islamic fundamentalism.
13. When the Chinese occupied Xinjiang in 1949,a large number of the political elite of the province fled to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Some came to Jammu & Kashmir in India where they were allowed to stay by the then Indian Government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. After some years, they shifted to Saudi Arabia and from there to Turkey and the then West Germany. These secular and liberal Uighurs in the diaspora, who are now associated with the WUC, are admirers of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and interact closely with the Tibetan diaspora in the
West.
14. The religious dimension of the anger gave rise to the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan (IMET), formed by some Uighurs, Uzbecks and other Muslims who had fled to Pakistan from Xinjiang and participated in the jihad against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Whereas the WUC fights against the Han Chinese because they are in occupation of the traditional Uighur homeland, the IMET fights against the Hans because it says they are infidels, who are in occupation of territory, which historically belonged to the Umma. It had joined the International Islamic Front (IIF) for Jihad Against the Crusaders and the Jewish People formed by Osama bin Laden in 1998 under the leadership of Al Qaeda. It advocates a regional Caliphate consisting of the Central Asian Republics, Afghanistan and Eastern Turkestan.
15.While the WUC till recently drew most of its members from the Uighur diaspora in the West and Australia, the IMET has been drawing its members from the Uighur diaspora in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. While the WUC gets most of its funds from North America, West Europe and Australia , the IMET has been getting its funds from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. According to reliable Uighur sources in Pakistan, the Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan contributes money regularly to the IMET and helps many Uighur students in Pakistan.
16.The Chinese claim that more than 1,000 IMET members had been trained by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan before 9/11.Its former head Hasan Mahsum was reportedly shot dead by the Pakistani troops on October 2, 2003, in an anti-terrorism operation along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The CBS News of the US had reported on April 15, 2009, that the media wing of the IMET called Sawt al Islam had disseminated a 43-minute video entitled “Persistence and preparation for Jihad”. To quote the CBS:" It includes a statement by the group’s current leader Sheikh Abul Haq, as well as its late leader Hassan Makhdum, whose alias is Abu Mohammed al Turkistani. Abul Haq said
“jihad” was a duty that falls on all Muslims just like any other religious duty. He also pledged more attacks against Chinese forces.”
17. In a report from Urumqi, the Government-controlled Xinhua news agency of China quoted a spokesperson of the local Government as stating on January 8, 2007, that the local Police destroyed a terrorist camp in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and killed 18 terrorists. One policeman was killed and another injured in an exchange of fire, which took place on January 5, 2007, in the mountains of Pamir’s plateau in south Xinjiang. The police claimed to have captured 17 terrorists and to be pursuing others. They also claimed to have seized 22 hand grenades and more than 1,500 others which the terrorists had not yet finished making. According to the police, the training camp was being run by the IMET, which was designated by the UN Security Council in 2002 as a terrorist organisation for purposes of action under the UN Security Council Resolution No.1373 relating to action against terrorist funding.
18.The report of the incident of January 5, 2007, came in the wake of the dissemination of a message of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No. 2 to Osama bin Laden, on December 20, 2006, in which he had cited East Turkestan (Xinjiang) as an example of the historic Muslim lands presently under the occupation of non-Muslim countries and stressed the need to liberate them . However, there was no evidence to connect the dissemination of his message with the incident of January 5, 2007.
19. In 2008, in the months before the Beijing Olympics of August 2008, there were a number of acts of terrorism in the interior areas of Xinjiang as well as in Shanghai and in Kunming in Yunnan. The Chinese investigators blamed the IMET for these acts and arrested many of its suspected supporters. There was anger over the execution of two Uighurs allegedly belonging to the IMET in April last in Kashgar city for what China called a "terrorist" attack last August there aimed at sabotaging the Beijing Olympics. According to the Chinese authorities, 17 policemen were killed in that incident. Fears have been expressed by the local Uighurs that the 10 Uighurs handed over by Pakistan to China in June last on the ground that they belonged to the IMET might meet with a similar fate.
20.Before the Urumchi uprising, there was considerable anger in Xinjiang over preventive arrests being made by the authorities of the local office of the Ministry of Public Security since April to prevent any violent incidents coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China which falls in October.
21.The Urumchi uprising also came at a time when there has been a recrudescence of jihadi violence in Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan and Xinjiang since the beginning of this year. While local grievances of the Uighurs are responsible for the fresh wave of unrest in Xinjiang, the revival of pro-Taliban activities in Uzbekistan and Kyrgystan has come in the wake of attempts by the US to find alternate routes for the movement of logistic supplies to their troops in Afghanistan through Russia and the Central Asian Republics. Following frequent attacks by the Pakistani Taliban on convoys carrying logistic supplies passing through the Pashtun areas, the US has embarked on an exercise to find alternate routes. Reliable sources say that Al Qaeda has been encouraging the Uzbeks, the Uighurs and the Chechens to unite to foil this US exercise and to target the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's joint operations against terrorism.
22. Till the Urumchi uprising, the Chinese concern was mainly over the activities of the Waziristan-based IMET, which was suspected of the murder of some Chinese engineers working in the Gwadar port construction project in Balochistan, some Chinese meat wholesalers based in Peshawar and of attacks on some Chinese engineers working in a hydel project and a mobile telephone project in the Pashtun tribal areas. The role of the Pakistani Taliban was also suspected in the attacks on the Chinese engineers in the Pashtun areas.
23. Since 2002, Beijing had been repeatedly pressing the Pakistan Government to effectively dismantle the terrorist infrastructure of the IMET in Pakistani territory. While the Pakistani authorities did kill some Uighurs of the IMET and captured and handed over some others to the Chinese authorities, they were not able to stop the activities of the IMET from their territory. The Chinese had taken up this matter on
many occasions with Pervez Musharraf when he was the President and took it up again with President Asif Ali Zardari when he visited Shanghai in February last and with Rehman Malik, Pakistan's Interior Minister, when he had visited Beijing in June last.
24. Till now, the Chinese concerns were mainly over the activities of the IMET. They did not show much evidence of any concern over the activities of the WUC, which they looked upon mainly as a diaspora organization in the West with no following inside Xinjiang, They were taken by surprise on July 5,2009, when nearly 3000 Uighur students and others, whom the Chinese suspected to be sympathisers of the WUC, held a demonstration in the centre of Urumqi to protest against the alleged murder of two Uighurs working in a toy factory of Guangdong by their Han Chinese co-workers following allegations of a rape of a Han Chinese woman by some Uighur workers. The allegations turned out to be false. The murder of the two Uighur workers took place on June 26, but according to the Uighur protesters, the Chinese Police in Guangdong had not arrested the Han Chinese accused till July 6. They were arrested only after the uprising.
25. According to WUC sources, the protesters carried the Chinese national flag in order to highlight that their protest demonstration was on a human rights issue and had nothing to do with their political demand for autonomy or independence. They allege that despite this the Chinese police opened fire killing a large number of Uighur protesters, many of them young students. The WUC has alleged that about 800 Uighurs were killed by the police firing, but this is not corroborated by independent sources.
26. What happened subsequently after the police opened fire on the protesters---many of them young---is not clear. There are contradictory reports from different sources, but many sources are agreed that the Chinese contention that there was a brutal massacre of over 100 Han Chinese---many of them women--- by groups of Uighurs who killed the Han Chinese with butchers' knives, slitting the throats of some of them, is correct. It was a brutality of a kind that has not been seen outside the Af-Pak region.
27. The identity of the Uighurs, who ran amok and brutally killed the Han Chinese, is not clear. The Chinese initially blamed the protesters of the WUC for this massacre. This is not corroborated. The strong suspicion is that Waziristan-trained members of the IMET, who had infiltrated into Urumchi, took advantage of the confusion after the police firing and went on a killing spree directed against the Han Chinese.
28. The Chinese authorities have been taken by surprise and shocked by what happened. Apart from inducting Army units from Sichuan into Xinjiang in order to reassure the Han Chinese that their lives and property will be protected, the Chinese have taken certain other measures such as the following:
· They have launched a “tell the truth to the world” campaign. Under this campaign, foreign journalists are being encouraged to visit Urumqi and make their own enquiries. They have appealed to the overseas Chinese to explain the situation to the population of the countries where they are living.
· The Chinese Foreign Office has directed Chinese diplomats posted in Islamic countries to give the facts of the situation to their host Governments. The Chinese have been taken aback by the strong reaction of the Turkish Government and by the large demonstrations in Turkey against the Urumchi incidents, which have been described in Turkey as amounting to a genocide.
· They have appealed to all countries to stop the flow of funds to Uighur organisations. Though they have not mentioned any country by name, many feel that their appeal is directed at the US, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
29. The Chinese have taken seriously a report disseminated by a Western risk consultancy agency that the branch of Al Qaeda in Algeria has threatened to attack Chinese workers working in Algeria and other countries in retaliation for the death of the Muslims in Urumqi. Even though the authenticity of the report has not yet been established, the Chinese have requested the Governments of Pakistan, Yemen, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan and Nigeria, where the maximum number of Chinese are working, to strengthen security for their nationals.
30. The Chinese have two serious concerns --- immediate in the context of the alleged threat by the Al Qaeda unit in Algeria and subsequent in the context of what could happen in October when the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China is observed. From comments received by me on my articles from many who claim to be Chinese readers, it seems they are surprised that India, which has been a victim of jihadi violence and terrorism, has remained silent on what happened at Urumchi. There is no reason for us to react at present, whatever be the correct facts.
31. Like the US, China has for many years been a following a policy of double standards with regard to jihadi terrorism-- condemning that which is directed at China and maintaining a silence over Pakistan-sponsored jihadi terrorism which is directed at India. There is no reason why we should fight shy of paying them back in their own coin.
( 16-7-09)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
WHY INDIANS ARE SILENT ON UIGHUR BRUTALITIES?
B.RAMAN
I was in receipt of a question from a Chinese reader of my articles on the Urumqi uprising asking why the Indians are silent on the brutalities committed by the Uighurs on the Han Chinese. The reply sent by me is given below:
In India, people are worried over the brutality of the Uighur jihadis to the Han Chinese civilians. I personally support strong action by the Chinese security agencies against those involved in riots and violence. I am sure in their heart of hearts many Indians will feel the same way against the trouble-makers. At the same time, they don't say it openly because the Chinese authorities remained silent when the jihadi terrorists in Kashmir acted in the same way as the Uighur rioters. Moreover, the Chinese delegation to the UN opposed the declaration of the Lashkar-e-Toiba as a terrorist organisation till the LET attacked in Mumbai in November last. Both India and China face jihadi terrorism emanating from Pakistan. They should jointly combat it. That is possible only if China stops helping Pakistan and considering it an ally. (14-7-09)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies.E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
I was in receipt of a question from a Chinese reader of my articles on the Urumqi uprising asking why the Indians are silent on the brutalities committed by the Uighurs on the Han Chinese. The reply sent by me is given below:
In India, people are worried over the brutality of the Uighur jihadis to the Han Chinese civilians. I personally support strong action by the Chinese security agencies against those involved in riots and violence. I am sure in their heart of hearts many Indians will feel the same way against the trouble-makers. At the same time, they don't say it openly because the Chinese authorities remained silent when the jihadi terrorists in Kashmir acted in the same way as the Uighur rioters. Moreover, the Chinese delegation to the UN opposed the declaration of the Lashkar-e-Toiba as a terrorist organisation till the LET attacked in Mumbai in November last. Both India and China face jihadi terrorism emanating from Pakistan. They should jointly combat it. That is possible only if China stops helping Pakistan and considering it an ally. (14-7-09)
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies.E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Monday, July 13, 2009
HILARY CLINTON'S VISIT TO INDIA
B.RAMAN
The following is the reply sent by me to an E-mail question from a journalist asking for my reaction to the forthcoming visit of Mrs.Hilary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, to New Delhi for talks with the Indian leaders:
It will be essentially an "ego-massaging" visit. India's inflated ego was hurt when she went to China first in Februrary and spoke in very positive terms about China. She has already embarked on an exercise to introduce correctives.
2.Whatever she might say to please India, the reality is that Pakistan and China are more important to the US at present than India. Pakistan is important for preventing another 9/11 in US homeland and for preventing a catastrophic act of terrorism involving the use of weapons of mass destruction material and China for its economic recovery.
3.Comparatively, India's utility to the US is limited. At the same
time, the US cannot ignore India because of its size, its democracy, its economic potential in another 10 years if not now and the vigorous Indian-origin community in the US which is politically more active than the Chinese-origin community.
4.We can expect from her positive statements and gestures, but one cannot say definitely how sincerely-meant they would be. Indians have a weakness for flattery and tend to indulge in wishful-thinking.
5.We have no culture of strategic-thinking and laser-sharp analysis based on cruel facts and figures. But we have a long-ingrained culture of wishful-thinking. All Hillary Clinton has to do is to make a few statements describing India as a great power, praising Mahatma Gandhi, highlighting the impact of Gandhiji on Martin Luther King and Barack Obama, India's IT genius etc, Indians wil be quite happy for some months till the next disappointment comes.
6.Americans understand India better than they understand Pakistan and its jihadi hordes. Pakistanis understand the US better than Indians.
7.Hype and flattery will be the defining characteristics of her visit. Indian ego will remain tickled for some months.
8. Ultimately, our people will continue to die at the hands of jihadi terrorists. Pakistan will continue to use terrorism against India to change the status quo in Jammu & Kashmir. Americans will continue to link terrorism with Kashmir.
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and , presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
The following is the reply sent by me to an E-mail question from a journalist asking for my reaction to the forthcoming visit of Mrs.Hilary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, to New Delhi for talks with the Indian leaders:
It will be essentially an "ego-massaging" visit. India's inflated ego was hurt when she went to China first in Februrary and spoke in very positive terms about China. She has already embarked on an exercise to introduce correctives.
2.Whatever she might say to please India, the reality is that Pakistan and China are more important to the US at present than India. Pakistan is important for preventing another 9/11 in US homeland and for preventing a catastrophic act of terrorism involving the use of weapons of mass destruction material and China for its economic recovery.
3.Comparatively, India's utility to the US is limited. At the same
time, the US cannot ignore India because of its size, its democracy, its economic potential in another 10 years if not now and the vigorous Indian-origin community in the US which is politically more active than the Chinese-origin community.
4.We can expect from her positive statements and gestures, but one cannot say definitely how sincerely-meant they would be. Indians have a weakness for flattery and tend to indulge in wishful-thinking.
5.We have no culture of strategic-thinking and laser-sharp analysis based on cruel facts and figures. But we have a long-ingrained culture of wishful-thinking. All Hillary Clinton has to do is to make a few statements describing India as a great power, praising Mahatma Gandhi, highlighting the impact of Gandhiji on Martin Luther King and Barack Obama, India's IT genius etc, Indians wil be quite happy for some months till the next disappointment comes.
6.Americans understand India better than they understand Pakistan and its jihadi hordes. Pakistanis understand the US better than Indians.
7.Hype and flattery will be the defining characteristics of her visit. Indian ego will remain tickled for some months.
8. Ultimately, our people will continue to die at the hands of jihadi terrorists. Pakistan will continue to use terrorism against India to change the status quo in Jammu & Kashmir. Americans will continue to link terrorism with Kashmir.
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and , presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
Sunday, July 12, 2009
URUMQI: NO FRESH VIOLENCE, BUT TENSION PERSISTS
B.RAMAN
There have been no fresh reports of violence from Urumqi, but tension persists. This tension is partly due to the anger of the Uighurs over what they describe as the indiscriminate use of force by the local authorities against Uighur protesters on July 5 and 6,2009, and the anger of the Han Chinese over what they project as the brutalities allegedly committed by the Uighur Muslims against the Han Chinese and over the failure of the security forces to protect them.
2.As a result of the disturbances for four days from July 5, the confidence of both the Uighurs and the Han Chinese in the local security forces has been shaken---each for different reasons. Army units, which were rushed to Xinjiang on the orders of President Hu Jintao, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, after his premature return from Rome without attending the G-8 summit, may have to stay in the province for a long time. The aggravated polarization in the relations between the Uighurs and the Han Chinese has complicated the situation for the Chinese authorities.
3. The situation in Urumqi and the rest of the Xinjiang province is not being handled by Prime Minister Wen Jiabo, but by Meng Jianzhu, State
Councillor, who is the Minister for Public Security and in that capacity is the chief of China's internal intelligence and homeland security set-up, and by Zhou Yongkang, who is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and in that capacity supervises the internal security apparatus. These are the only two leaders, who have been touring the affected areas and reassuring the Han Chinese that the Government will act firmly to prevent any more violent incidents.
4. Zhou Yongkang, who visited Kashgar and Hotan in Southern Xinjiang on July 11 and met the local officials and Han Chinese community leaders, called for a "steel wall" of security to "win the tough war of maintaining Xinjiang's stability."
5. The Chinese are not clear in their mind as to who were responsible for what happened. They continue to blame the Munich-based World Uighur Congress (WUC) for the outbreak of violence. While the protest demonstrations on the evening of July 5 were definitely held by secular Uighurs sympathetic to the WUC, nobody knows who caused the subsequent brutalities against the Han Chinese---men and women. Reliable reports say that even pregnant Han Chinese women were not spared by the rioting Uighurs.
6. The Uighurs constitute only 15 per cent of the population in Urumqi. The Han Chinese constitute about 75 per cent. It is, therefore, difficult to understand how elements from such a small minority managed to kill so many members of the majority community in a brutal fashion. This indicates the possibility of the infiltration of pro-Al Qaeda and pro-Taliban elements sympathetic to the Islamic Movement of East Turkestan (IMET), who are strong in the interior areas, into Urumqi to take advantage of the protests organised by the sympathisers of
the WUC to create a mayhem. The Uighurs constitute the largest ethnic group in the interior.
7. The Chinese authorities continue to allow foreign journalists to cover the situation in Urumqi. While they have allowed tourist groups, which were already in Xinjiang at the time of the outbreak of the violence to continue their tours without asking them to leave, they are discouraging group tour companies from taking new groups to Xinjiang on the ground that many tourist buses were destroyed by the Uighurs during the riots and that the local authorities may not be able to provide effective security to the tourists.
8.Last Friday, while some mosques in Urumqi remained closed, some others held their Friday prayers, which were largely attended by the local Muslims. Some foreign journalists in Urumqi reported that the Chinese authorities had banned the prayers and that some mosques had held the prayers in defiance of the Government ban. This has been strongly denied by the local authorities. According to them, there was no such ban. They contended that while some clerics held the prayers as usual, some others decided on their own to cancel the prayers due to the continuing tension. They maintained that the Government had no role in this decision.
9. The Chinese authorities have, in the meanwhile, revised upwards the number of fatalities. Initially, they had given the figure as 156. On July 11, they revised it as 184---- of whom 137 were Han Chinese. They have cautioned that the number of fatalities might go up since many of the injured undergoing treatment in hospitals are in a critical condition.
10. It is still not clear why Hu had to cancel his participation in the G-8 summit despite the danger of its being perceived by the outside world as indicating that China was losing control in Xinjiang. It would also be projected by his domestic critics as “loss of face for China”. In a commentary by the Asia Times Online’s China Editor, it has said that this was because that only Hu, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, could have authorised the movement of the Army to Xinjiang to take over the responsibility for law and order. Since neither Wen Jiabo nor any of the other political leaders from the Standing Committee of the Politbureau is a member of the Commission they could not have taken this decision in the absence of Hu. While this explanation sounds plausible, this may not be the complete explanation. There are undercurrents of tension in the leadership over the fact that for the first time China had to suffer a “loss of face”. Maintaining face is very important for the Chinese.
11. The Urumqi uprising has created tension in China’s relations with Turkey, which has characterized the situation in Xinjiang as genocidal and has called for a debate in the UN Security Council. This has been opposed by China. The Central Asian Republics and the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation have described the situation as an internal matter of China. Western reactions have been restrained and there has been an attempt not to embarrass China by exploiting the situation. While there was considerable sympathy for the Tibetans last year and many expressions of solidarity with them, similar sympathy and expressions are not to be seen in the case of the Uighur uprising. The world does not want another Islamic trouble spot in addition to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Chinese are banking on this and encouraging the foreign journalists to go to Urumqi in the hope that they would see for themselves the dangers of a new Islamic trouble spot.(13-7-09)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
There have been no fresh reports of violence from Urumqi, but tension persists. This tension is partly due to the anger of the Uighurs over what they describe as the indiscriminate use of force by the local authorities against Uighur protesters on July 5 and 6,2009, and the anger of the Han Chinese over what they project as the brutalities allegedly committed by the Uighur Muslims against the Han Chinese and over the failure of the security forces to protect them.
2.As a result of the disturbances for four days from July 5, the confidence of both the Uighurs and the Han Chinese in the local security forces has been shaken---each for different reasons. Army units, which were rushed to Xinjiang on the orders of President Hu Jintao, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, after his premature return from Rome without attending the G-8 summit, may have to stay in the province for a long time. The aggravated polarization in the relations between the Uighurs and the Han Chinese has complicated the situation for the Chinese authorities.
3. The situation in Urumqi and the rest of the Xinjiang province is not being handled by Prime Minister Wen Jiabo, but by Meng Jianzhu, State
Councillor, who is the Minister for Public Security and in that capacity is the chief of China's internal intelligence and homeland security set-up, and by Zhou Yongkang, who is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and in that capacity supervises the internal security apparatus. These are the only two leaders, who have been touring the affected areas and reassuring the Han Chinese that the Government will act firmly to prevent any more violent incidents.
4. Zhou Yongkang, who visited Kashgar and Hotan in Southern Xinjiang on July 11 and met the local officials and Han Chinese community leaders, called for a "steel wall" of security to "win the tough war of maintaining Xinjiang's stability."
5. The Chinese are not clear in their mind as to who were responsible for what happened. They continue to blame the Munich-based World Uighur Congress (WUC) for the outbreak of violence. While the protest demonstrations on the evening of July 5 were definitely held by secular Uighurs sympathetic to the WUC, nobody knows who caused the subsequent brutalities against the Han Chinese---men and women. Reliable reports say that even pregnant Han Chinese women were not spared by the rioting Uighurs.
6. The Uighurs constitute only 15 per cent of the population in Urumqi. The Han Chinese constitute about 75 per cent. It is, therefore, difficult to understand how elements from such a small minority managed to kill so many members of the majority community in a brutal fashion. This indicates the possibility of the infiltration of pro-Al Qaeda and pro-Taliban elements sympathetic to the Islamic Movement of East Turkestan (IMET), who are strong in the interior areas, into Urumqi to take advantage of the protests organised by the sympathisers of
the WUC to create a mayhem. The Uighurs constitute the largest ethnic group in the interior.
7. The Chinese authorities continue to allow foreign journalists to cover the situation in Urumqi. While they have allowed tourist groups, which were already in Xinjiang at the time of the outbreak of the violence to continue their tours without asking them to leave, they are discouraging group tour companies from taking new groups to Xinjiang on the ground that many tourist buses were destroyed by the Uighurs during the riots and that the local authorities may not be able to provide effective security to the tourists.
8.Last Friday, while some mosques in Urumqi remained closed, some others held their Friday prayers, which were largely attended by the local Muslims. Some foreign journalists in Urumqi reported that the Chinese authorities had banned the prayers and that some mosques had held the prayers in defiance of the Government ban. This has been strongly denied by the local authorities. According to them, there was no such ban. They contended that while some clerics held the prayers as usual, some others decided on their own to cancel the prayers due to the continuing tension. They maintained that the Government had no role in this decision.
9. The Chinese authorities have, in the meanwhile, revised upwards the number of fatalities. Initially, they had given the figure as 156. On July 11, they revised it as 184---- of whom 137 were Han Chinese. They have cautioned that the number of fatalities might go up since many of the injured undergoing treatment in hospitals are in a critical condition.
10. It is still not clear why Hu had to cancel his participation in the G-8 summit despite the danger of its being perceived by the outside world as indicating that China was losing control in Xinjiang. It would also be projected by his domestic critics as “loss of face for China”. In a commentary by the Asia Times Online’s China Editor, it has said that this was because that only Hu, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, could have authorised the movement of the Army to Xinjiang to take over the responsibility for law and order. Since neither Wen Jiabo nor any of the other political leaders from the Standing Committee of the Politbureau is a member of the Commission they could not have taken this decision in the absence of Hu. While this explanation sounds plausible, this may not be the complete explanation. There are undercurrents of tension in the leadership over the fact that for the first time China had to suffer a “loss of face”. Maintaining face is very important for the Chinese.
11. The Urumqi uprising has created tension in China’s relations with Turkey, which has characterized the situation in Xinjiang as genocidal and has called for a debate in the UN Security Council. This has been opposed by China. The Central Asian Republics and the Secretariat of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation have described the situation as an internal matter of China. Western reactions have been restrained and there has been an attempt not to embarrass China by exploiting the situation. While there was considerable sympathy for the Tibetans last year and many expressions of solidarity with them, similar sympathy and expressions are not to be seen in the case of the Uighur uprising. The world does not want another Islamic trouble spot in addition to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Chinese are banking on this and encouraging the foreign journalists to go to Urumqi in the hope that they would see for themselves the dangers of a new Islamic trouble spot.(13-7-09)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
MUMBAI 26/11: A DAY OF INFAMY
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Thursday, July 9, 2009
RELATIVE NORMALCY IN URUMQI : UIGHURS' PSYWAR BOOMERANGS
B.RAMAN
In a report carried on July 10,2009, the "China Daily" has projected the situation in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang province of China, as a "relative state of normalcy" after two days of violent rioting by the Uighurs followed by two days of communal tension due to retaliatory attacks by sections of the Han Chinese.
2. No major incident of violence or protest was reported on July 9,2009. Most shops have re-opened, the Government servants have reported back to work and the public transport system which was very badly damaged during the initial rioting by the Uighurs is functioning again.
3. However, there have been complaints from Uighurs that shops owned by Han Chinese are not selling them provisions and that Han drivers of buses and taxis are not prepared to take them. The public transport system in Urumqi is dominated by the Han Chinese. Practically all taxi-drivers are Han Chinese. While there are no more reports of protests by the Han Chinese, reports indicate a kind of undeclared social boycott of the Uighurs being observed by many Han Chinese residents of the city. While administrative normalcy might have been restored, it might take a long time to restore social normalcy.
4. "Restoration of stability"-----that has been the key theme of a statement issued after a meeting of the nine-member Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party held on the evening of July 8 under the chairmanship of President Hu Jintao. That has also been the theme of discourses by other Chinese leaders and editorials and comments in the Government-controlled media.
5. The policy of transparency continues. Chinese journalists say that the Chinese authorities have allowed about 400 journalists to go to Urumqi. However, they do not specify how many of them are foreign journalists.
6. The Chinese have kept up the focus of their psywar on the World Uighur Congress (WUC), allegedly funded by the National Endowment For Democracy of the US and helped by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) of Holland. The Munich-based WUC and its US-based President Ms.Rebiya Kadeer have played into the hands of the Chinese authorities by making exaggerated statements about the fatalities and by unwittingly disseminating or using documents and alleged pictures of the Chinese security forces using force against the Uighurs. In at least two instances, the Chinese authorities have been able to prove them to be fake.
7. For example, during an interview with Al Jazeera on July 7 , Rebiya Kadeer showed a picture of what she claimed was Chinese security forces massed against peaceful protesters in Urumqi. The Chinese have claimed that the picture which she said was taken in Urumqi was actually carried by the "Nanfang Weekly" in its online edition on June 26. According to the Chinese authorities, the picture had been taken by the weekly during a public demonstration at Shishou in the Hubei province.
8. According to the Chinese, the Uighur American Association had also disseminated a photograph purporting to be of a scene of the riots in Urumqi. According to them, it was actually a photograph taken when sections of the public in Hangzhou in the Zhejiang province had protested on May 15,2009, after a traffic accident.
9. The WUC had initially alleged that 600 Uighurs were killed during the use of force by the security forces on July 5 and 6. They subsequently changed the figure of Uighur fatalities to over 800. These figures have not been corroborated so far. Similarly, the WUC's claims of violent incidents in Kashgar have not been corroborated.
10. Till now all Uighur reactions have come from the WUC, its leaders and spokesmen. There have been no reactions from the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan (IMET) headed by Sheikh Abdul Haq, which operates from the Waziristan area of Pakistan and is allied to Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda in the International Islamic Front (IIF).
11.The CBS News of the US had reported on April 15,2009, that the media wing of the IMET called Sawt al Islam had recently disseminated a 43-minute video entitled “Persistence and preparation for Jihad”. To quote the CBS:" It includes a statement by the group’s current leader Sheikh Abul Haq, as well as its late leader Hassan Makhdum, whose alias is Abu Mohammed al Turkistani. Abul Haq said “jihad” was a duty that falls on all Muslims just like any other religious duty. He also pledged more attacks against Chinese forces.”
12. While the Chinese are not yet openly talking of any role of the IMET in the Urumqi riots, they are reported to have reiterated once again to the Pakistani authorities the need to act against its terrorist infrastructure in Pakistani territory. Neither Al Qaeda nor the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban nor any of the Pakistani jihadi oranisations have so far commented on the Urumqi uprising.
13.However,the only comment in Pakistan has come from the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI),which has many members from the Uighur diaspora in Pakistan. It had in the past protested against the refusal of the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad to issue Haj and Umra visas to Uighurs living in Pakistan. The Saudis were insisting that they should apply for the visas to the Saudi Embassy in Beijing.
14. "The News" carried the following report on July 9: " LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Syed Munawwar Hasan has expressed deep concern over the bloody riots in China’s largest Muslim population province Xinjiang, and urged the Chinese government to show magnanimity towards its Muslim minority. He cited reports saying around 3,000 Chinese Muslims were tortured in the Urumqi city when they were demanding a probe into the clashes between the Muslim Uighurs and the Han Chinese that left hundreds killed. He said though it was China’s internal affair yet it was painful to hear about so many Muslim deaths. He said he would like to assert that violence and inflexible attitude could make things worse. He suggested the Chinese authorities to consider the genuine demands of the Muslims with an open mind and be large-hearted in respect of their religious rights. He said there were reports of the US involvement in the incident. In that case, he said the Chinese authorities should create an atmosphere in which the US did not get an opportunity to interfere."
15. The web site of the NED of the US gives details of the following grants given by it to Uighur organisations during 2008:
International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation
$134,805.To advance the human rights of ethnic Uyghur women and children. The Foundation will maintain an English- and Uyghur-language website, publish a report on the human rights situation of Uyghur women and children and conduct a civic-education workshop for Uyghur women.
International Uyghur PEN Club $20,300. To promote freedom of expression for writers creating work in the Uyghur language. The International Uyghur PEN Club will maintain a website publishing banned writings and the works of persecuted poets, historians, journalists, and others, and will conduct international advocacy campaigns on behalf of imprisoned writers.
Uyghur American Association (UAA) $269,000. To raise awareness of Uyghur human rights issues and advance Uyghurs’ religious freedom and human rights. The UAA’s Uyghur Human Rights Project will research, document and bring to international attention, independent and accurate information about human rights violations affecting the Turkic populations of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
World Uyghur Congress $146,000 . To strengthen advocacy on behalf of Uyghur human rights and democracy. The World Uyghur Congress will solicit its members to prepare strategy papers and will organize a major conference bringing together pro-democracy Uyghur leaders to discuss priorities for the Uyghur movement in the areas of advocacy, outreach, and democracy education.
165. After Hu's return from Italy, the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party has tried to project a picture of unity in order to dispel speculation about possible differences over the handling of the situation. This does not mean that differences do not exist. These might come out in the open subsequenly. A report disseminated by the Xinhua news agency on the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Politburo held after Hu's return from Italy is annexed. (10-7-09)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt.of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE
Xinhua report on the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party chaired by Hu Jintao
------------------------------
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday night convened a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to discuss issues relating to the Xinjiang riot.
The meeting was told that stability in Xinjiang is the "most important and pressing task," according to a statement issued Thursday. The
meeting also vowed "severe punishment" on culprits in accordance with the law.
The government will "firmly crack down on serious crimes including assaults, vandalism, looting and arson" to maintain social stability and
safeguard people's fundamental interests in Xinjiang, according to the statement.
The Standing Committee told relevant authorities to "isolate and crack down on the tiny few" and "unify and educate the majority of
masses".
"Instigators, organizers, culprits and violent criminals in the unrest shall be severely punished in accordance with the law," it said. "Those
taking part in the riot due to provocation and deceit from by separatists, should be given education."
The deadly July 5 unrest in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has "profound" political background, the
statement said.
It was a serious violent crime which was masterminded and organized by the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism at home
and abroad, it said. The unrest has resulted in great losses to people and done great harm to local order and stability, it said.
The Standing Committee asked local government to visit bereaved families, innocent people injured, and those with property losses, to offer
necessary support and aid.
In a report carried on July 10,2009, the "China Daily" has projected the situation in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang province of China, as a "relative state of normalcy" after two days of violent rioting by the Uighurs followed by two days of communal tension due to retaliatory attacks by sections of the Han Chinese.
2. No major incident of violence or protest was reported on July 9,2009. Most shops have re-opened, the Government servants have reported back to work and the public transport system which was very badly damaged during the initial rioting by the Uighurs is functioning again.
3. However, there have been complaints from Uighurs that shops owned by Han Chinese are not selling them provisions and that Han drivers of buses and taxis are not prepared to take them. The public transport system in Urumqi is dominated by the Han Chinese. Practically all taxi-drivers are Han Chinese. While there are no more reports of protests by the Han Chinese, reports indicate a kind of undeclared social boycott of the Uighurs being observed by many Han Chinese residents of the city. While administrative normalcy might have been restored, it might take a long time to restore social normalcy.
4. "Restoration of stability"-----that has been the key theme of a statement issued after a meeting of the nine-member Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party held on the evening of July 8 under the chairmanship of President Hu Jintao. That has also been the theme of discourses by other Chinese leaders and editorials and comments in the Government-controlled media.
5. The policy of transparency continues. Chinese journalists say that the Chinese authorities have allowed about 400 journalists to go to Urumqi. However, they do not specify how many of them are foreign journalists.
6. The Chinese have kept up the focus of their psywar on the World Uighur Congress (WUC), allegedly funded by the National Endowment For Democracy of the US and helped by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) of Holland. The Munich-based WUC and its US-based President Ms.Rebiya Kadeer have played into the hands of the Chinese authorities by making exaggerated statements about the fatalities and by unwittingly disseminating or using documents and alleged pictures of the Chinese security forces using force against the Uighurs. In at least two instances, the Chinese authorities have been able to prove them to be fake.
7. For example, during an interview with Al Jazeera on July 7 , Rebiya Kadeer showed a picture of what she claimed was Chinese security forces massed against peaceful protesters in Urumqi. The Chinese have claimed that the picture which she said was taken in Urumqi was actually carried by the "Nanfang Weekly" in its online edition on June 26. According to the Chinese authorities, the picture had been taken by the weekly during a public demonstration at Shishou in the Hubei province.
8. According to the Chinese, the Uighur American Association had also disseminated a photograph purporting to be of a scene of the riots in Urumqi. According to them, it was actually a photograph taken when sections of the public in Hangzhou in the Zhejiang province had protested on May 15,2009, after a traffic accident.
9. The WUC had initially alleged that 600 Uighurs were killed during the use of force by the security forces on July 5 and 6. They subsequently changed the figure of Uighur fatalities to over 800. These figures have not been corroborated so far. Similarly, the WUC's claims of violent incidents in Kashgar have not been corroborated.
10. Till now all Uighur reactions have come from the WUC, its leaders and spokesmen. There have been no reactions from the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan (IMET) headed by Sheikh Abdul Haq, which operates from the Waziristan area of Pakistan and is allied to Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda in the International Islamic Front (IIF).
11.The CBS News of the US had reported on April 15,2009, that the media wing of the IMET called Sawt al Islam had recently disseminated a 43-minute video entitled “Persistence and preparation for Jihad”. To quote the CBS:" It includes a statement by the group’s current leader Sheikh Abul Haq, as well as its late leader Hassan Makhdum, whose alias is Abu Mohammed al Turkistani. Abul Haq said “jihad” was a duty that falls on all Muslims just like any other religious duty. He also pledged more attacks against Chinese forces.”
12. While the Chinese are not yet openly talking of any role of the IMET in the Urumqi riots, they are reported to have reiterated once again to the Pakistani authorities the need to act against its terrorist infrastructure in Pakistani territory. Neither Al Qaeda nor the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban nor any of the Pakistani jihadi oranisations have so far commented on the Urumqi uprising.
13.However,the only comment in Pakistan has come from the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI),which has many members from the Uighur diaspora in Pakistan. It had in the past protested against the refusal of the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad to issue Haj and Umra visas to Uighurs living in Pakistan. The Saudis were insisting that they should apply for the visas to the Saudi Embassy in Beijing.
14. "The News" carried the following report on July 9: " LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Syed Munawwar Hasan has expressed deep concern over the bloody riots in China’s largest Muslim population province Xinjiang, and urged the Chinese government to show magnanimity towards its Muslim minority. He cited reports saying around 3,000 Chinese Muslims were tortured in the Urumqi city when they were demanding a probe into the clashes between the Muslim Uighurs and the Han Chinese that left hundreds killed. He said though it was China’s internal affair yet it was painful to hear about so many Muslim deaths. He said he would like to assert that violence and inflexible attitude could make things worse. He suggested the Chinese authorities to consider the genuine demands of the Muslims with an open mind and be large-hearted in respect of their religious rights. He said there were reports of the US involvement in the incident. In that case, he said the Chinese authorities should create an atmosphere in which the US did not get an opportunity to interfere."
15. The web site of the NED of the US gives details of the following grants given by it to Uighur organisations during 2008:
International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation
$134,805.To advance the human rights of ethnic Uyghur women and children. The Foundation will maintain an English- and Uyghur-language website, publish a report on the human rights situation of Uyghur women and children and conduct a civic-education workshop for Uyghur women.
International Uyghur PEN Club $20,300. To promote freedom of expression for writers creating work in the Uyghur language. The International Uyghur PEN Club will maintain a website publishing banned writings and the works of persecuted poets, historians, journalists, and others, and will conduct international advocacy campaigns on behalf of imprisoned writers.
Uyghur American Association (UAA) $269,000. To raise awareness of Uyghur human rights issues and advance Uyghurs’ religious freedom and human rights. The UAA’s Uyghur Human Rights Project will research, document and bring to international attention, independent and accurate information about human rights violations affecting the Turkic populations of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
World Uyghur Congress $146,000 . To strengthen advocacy on behalf of Uyghur human rights and democracy. The World Uyghur Congress will solicit its members to prepare strategy papers and will organize a major conference bringing together pro-democracy Uyghur leaders to discuss priorities for the Uyghur movement in the areas of advocacy, outreach, and democracy education.
165. After Hu's return from Italy, the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party has tried to project a picture of unity in order to dispel speculation about possible differences over the handling of the situation. This does not mean that differences do not exist. These might come out in the open subsequenly. A report disseminated by the Xinhua news agency on the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Politburo held after Hu's return from Italy is annexed. (10-7-09)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt.of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE
Xinhua report on the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party chaired by Hu Jintao
------------------------------
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday night convened a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to discuss issues relating to the Xinjiang riot.
The meeting was told that stability in Xinjiang is the "most important and pressing task," according to a statement issued Thursday. The
meeting also vowed "severe punishment" on culprits in accordance with the law.
The government will "firmly crack down on serious crimes including assaults, vandalism, looting and arson" to maintain social stability and
safeguard people's fundamental interests in Xinjiang, according to the statement.
The Standing Committee told relevant authorities to "isolate and crack down on the tiny few" and "unify and educate the majority of
masses".
"Instigators, organizers, culprits and violent criminals in the unrest shall be severely punished in accordance with the law," it said. "Those
taking part in the riot due to provocation and deceit from by separatists, should be given education."
The deadly July 5 unrest in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has "profound" political background, the
statement said.
It was a serious violent crime which was masterminded and organized by the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism at home
and abroad, it said. The unrest has resulted in great losses to people and done great harm to local order and stability, it said.
The Standing Committee asked local government to visit bereaved families, innocent people injured, and those with property losses, to offer
necessary support and aid.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
CHINESE INTERNAL SECURITY CHIEF FLIES TO URUMQI: TRANSPARENCY CONTINUES
B.RAMAN
The situation in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Province of China, continues to be tense with sporadic acts of violence of a
minor nature as compared to what happened on the night of July 5,2009, and the next day. The violent incidents reported on July 8 were mainly in the form of small groups of angry Han Chinese trying to attack individual Uighurs.
2.In all instances, the police promptly intervened and persuaded the Han Chinese to disperse and not to take the law into their own hands. The police have mobilised the support of some members of the Han Chinese community, who are in a preponderant majority in Urumqi, to go round the Han Chinese areas and appeal to them not to take the law into their own hands. They have also been promising the Han Chinese that all Uighurs who were involved in the attacks on the Han Chinese will be prosecuted and promptly executed if found guilty of violent crimes.
3. More Army reinforcements have been moved into Urumqi and other areas of the province from Sichuan. They have undertaken a vigorous patrolling of the areas in order to help the police maintain law and order. Helicopter patrols have also been pressed into service. While violence is down, tension and nervousness continue. Many shops remained closed on July 8 and there was a rush at the local airport due to the anxiety of many Han Chinese to leave Xinjiang. All flights going out of Urumqi are packed and Han Chinese, not able to get a seat in the flights, have been staying in hotels near the airport, hoping to get a place in subsequent flights.
4. Meng Jianzhu, State Councillor, who is the Minister for Public Security and in that capacity is the chief of China's internal intelligence and homeland security set-up, has flown into Urumqi from Beijing and has been going round the city along with officials of the local Government and party appealing for calm and assuring the Han Chinese that the laws will be applied firmly against those who indulged in violence. In an unusual move, the People's Daily of China, owned by the Chinese Communist Party, asked its readers in advance to look out for an editorial
on July 9 in which it would call for the strict application of the laws against those found guilty and for strict measures to restore social order.
5. Even after the surprise return of President Hu Jintao from Italy on the morning of July 8 after cancelling his participation in the G-8 summit, the Chinese have continued with their policy of transparency in order to let the world know about the kind of brutalities allegedly committed by the Uighurs on July 5 and 6,2009.This would probably show that the policy of transparency, which was reportedly ordered by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in the absence of Hu in Italy, had the support of Hu.
6.The way the Chinese have handled the aftermath has been refreshingly different from the way they reacted after the Lhasa uprising of March 2008. After the Lhasa uprising, they ordered all foreign journalists and tourists in Tibet to leave and stopped permitting foreign journalists to visit Tibet for nearly three months. Now, the Chinese Foreign and Information offices in Beijing have been taking the initiative in contacting foreign journalists and requesting them to go to Urumqi to report on the situation. It has been reported that many journalists are already in Urumqi.
7. The only common factor in the way the Chinese handled the aftermath of the Lhasa uprising and are now handling the Urumqi uprising is the virulent demonisation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Youth Congress last year and a similar demonisation of the World Uighur Congress (WUC) and its leaders.
8. The immediate priority for the Chinese, as seen by them, is to address the Han Chinese anger over the alleged failure of the Police to protect them on July 5 and 6,2009. The next priority is to arrest and prosecute all those involved in acts of violence.
9. The ground situation in Xinjiang is qualitatively different from that in Tibet. In Tibet, the Tibetans are in a decisive majority still despite the settlement of a large number of Han Chinese. In Xinjiang, the Uighurs are not in a decisive majority. Muslims constitute about 60 per cent of the Xinjiang population, but not all of them are Uighurs. The Uighutrs constitute only 45 per cent of the Xinjiang population and the Han Chinese 40 per cent. The remaining 15 per cent are Muslims of non-Uighur origin. These non-Uighur Muslims have kept away from the protests.
10.Moreover, during the uprising in Lhasa, the Tibetans did not indulge in the kind of physical brutalities against the Han Chinese similar to the brutalities allegedly inflicted by some Uighurs on the Han Chinese. From the latest reports received from Urumqi, it would appear that the protest movement was initially started by a group of secular Uighurs, owing loyalty to the Munich-based WUC, but subsequently some of the jihadi fundamentalist elements owing loyalty to the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan, allied to Al Qaeda, infiltrated into their ranks and indulged in an orgy of violence against the Han Chinese. However, the Chinese authorities continue to project the Urumqi uprising as the handiwork of ethnic separatist terrorists. They are not talking of jihadi terrorists.
11. There is more than meets the eye in the Urumqi uprising. It took place a little more than a year after the Holland-based Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation, jointly with the WUC and the USA's National Endowment for Democracy (NED), had organised a training course----the second one--- for a group of Uighurs from the diaspora. The reported theme of the training course was "the right of self-determination". Annexed is a press statement issued on this subject at that time by the UNPO. The uprising took place less than two months after the WUC held its third world assembly in Washington DC in May,2009.
12. It is not clear why Hu had to cancel his participation in the G-8 summit and fly back almost in panic to Beijing. Was it because of the Han Chinese anger or was it because of differences in the party leadership over how to handle it? (9-7-09)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE
TRAINING OF UIGHURS BY NED AND UNPO ( PRESS STATEMEMENT BY UNPO)
21 April 2008
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) together with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) organized their second leadership training seminar in two years, which opened today the 21st of April 2008. Over 50 members of the Uyghur Diaspora from around the world together with prominent academics, government representatives and
members of the civil society gathered in Berlin Germany to discuss this year’s topic “Self-Determination under International Law”.
Mr. Dolkun Isa, Secretary General of the World Uyghur Congress, opened the occasion, welcoming participants to the training seminar, manyof whom traveled some distance to attend the event, including from Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Norway and the United States.
President of the WUC and internationally renowned advocate of the Uyghur cause, Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, warmly greeted the audience with great energy, enthusiasm and determination. Ms. Kadeer spoke on the lack of freedom afflicting Uyghurs since the communist clamp of power in 1949, including a constant constriction of human rights by Chinese authorities. People in East Turkestan cannot imagine the amount of freedom people in the western world enjoy, explained Ms. Kadeer, and individuals in the west cannot imagine the extent of suppression people in East Turkestan are experiencing.
The international community is very familiar with the situation of Tibet, however knowledge of the situation of East Turkestan is quite limited in comparison. Nonetheless, the last two years have seen many efforts to educate the world on the poor human rights situation in East Turkestan. It is therefore essential, reminded Ms. Kadeer, to continue to educate and inform all about the Uyghur situation.
Mr. Marino Busdachin, UNPO General Secretary, further noted that survival of the Uyghur culture and identity are vital issues Uyghurs arefaced with today. Introducing the topic of self-determination, Mr. Busdachin recognized the difficulty and controversy surrounding the subject. It is important to recognize that Chinese authorities are not willing to grant full autonomy or full federal solutions to East Turkestan, he explained, however we should stay positive in the situation and focus on means of raising awareness for the Uyghur cause and on the survival of their culture. Members of the Diaspora should be weary of tendencies towards radicalization and need to stay in constant dialogue with the people in East Turkestan so as not to become estranged by their position.
UNPO and WUC were thrilled to welcome multiple guests of honour on the opening day, including Mr. Günther Nooke, Federal Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dirk Pleiter of Amnesty International, Ms. Frances Eqerer, representative of Mr. Margarete Bause from the Green Party of the Bavarian Parliament, and Mr. Feruk Unsal, Member of
Parliament in Turkey.
Mr. Nooke spoke of the importance of pursuing a nonviolent path and avoiding any further escalation within minority groups in China. He called for an analysis into the roots of recent uprisings in China and reminded China that it is in their interest to review their policies towards minority groups. These actions would then necessitate a dialogue between the government and minorities – the exact path which could nonviolently reach a solution.
Furthermore, Mr. Nooke touched upon the situation of the Uyghurs currently incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, individuals who have been found not guilty of any charges and are ready to be released immediately. The Uyhgurs cannot however return to China, as they will undoubtedly suffer severe persecution. Ironically, Mr. Nooke points out, they are largely safer in prison than they would be in China. He therefore called for civil courage in Europe and the United States to grant these individuals immigration visas. Ms. Seema Saifee, pro bono attorney for several Uyghurs at Guantanamo, confirmed this argument, underlining that they could be released tomorrow as long as a
country will admit them.
Following a lively and well-attended press conference, to which members of various media sources including Deutsche Welle TV, WDR and the Associated Press attended, participants dove right into their training material.
With the aid of moderators Mr. Ulrich Delius of the Society for Threatened Peoples and Senator Marco Perduca, newly elected Member of the Italian Parliament, participants were guided through an introductory series of lectures on the concepts of international law, avenues of self-determination and case studies of such.
Ms. Anna Batalla, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Hans-Joachim Heintze, Institute of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Mr. Michael Gibb, Oxford University, Mr. Pedro Pinto Leite, International Platform for Jurists for East Timor, and Mr. Mohamoud Daar, Somaliland Ambassador to the European Union provided participants with a series of insightful and informative lectures which sparked dynamic discussion from all present.
The situation in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Province of China, continues to be tense with sporadic acts of violence of a
minor nature as compared to what happened on the night of July 5,2009, and the next day. The violent incidents reported on July 8 were mainly in the form of small groups of angry Han Chinese trying to attack individual Uighurs.
2.In all instances, the police promptly intervened and persuaded the Han Chinese to disperse and not to take the law into their own hands. The police have mobilised the support of some members of the Han Chinese community, who are in a preponderant majority in Urumqi, to go round the Han Chinese areas and appeal to them not to take the law into their own hands. They have also been promising the Han Chinese that all Uighurs who were involved in the attacks on the Han Chinese will be prosecuted and promptly executed if found guilty of violent crimes.
3. More Army reinforcements have been moved into Urumqi and other areas of the province from Sichuan. They have undertaken a vigorous patrolling of the areas in order to help the police maintain law and order. Helicopter patrols have also been pressed into service. While violence is down, tension and nervousness continue. Many shops remained closed on July 8 and there was a rush at the local airport due to the anxiety of many Han Chinese to leave Xinjiang. All flights going out of Urumqi are packed and Han Chinese, not able to get a seat in the flights, have been staying in hotels near the airport, hoping to get a place in subsequent flights.
4. Meng Jianzhu, State Councillor, who is the Minister for Public Security and in that capacity is the chief of China's internal intelligence and homeland security set-up, has flown into Urumqi from Beijing and has been going round the city along with officials of the local Government and party appealing for calm and assuring the Han Chinese that the laws will be applied firmly against those who indulged in violence. In an unusual move, the People's Daily of China, owned by the Chinese Communist Party, asked its readers in advance to look out for an editorial
on July 9 in which it would call for the strict application of the laws against those found guilty and for strict measures to restore social order.
5. Even after the surprise return of President Hu Jintao from Italy on the morning of July 8 after cancelling his participation in the G-8 summit, the Chinese have continued with their policy of transparency in order to let the world know about the kind of brutalities allegedly committed by the Uighurs on July 5 and 6,2009.This would probably show that the policy of transparency, which was reportedly ordered by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in the absence of Hu in Italy, had the support of Hu.
6.The way the Chinese have handled the aftermath has been refreshingly different from the way they reacted after the Lhasa uprising of March 2008. After the Lhasa uprising, they ordered all foreign journalists and tourists in Tibet to leave and stopped permitting foreign journalists to visit Tibet for nearly three months. Now, the Chinese Foreign and Information offices in Beijing have been taking the initiative in contacting foreign journalists and requesting them to go to Urumqi to report on the situation. It has been reported that many journalists are already in Urumqi.
7. The only common factor in the way the Chinese handled the aftermath of the Lhasa uprising and are now handling the Urumqi uprising is the virulent demonisation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Youth Congress last year and a similar demonisation of the World Uighur Congress (WUC) and its leaders.
8. The immediate priority for the Chinese, as seen by them, is to address the Han Chinese anger over the alleged failure of the Police to protect them on July 5 and 6,2009. The next priority is to arrest and prosecute all those involved in acts of violence.
9. The ground situation in Xinjiang is qualitatively different from that in Tibet. In Tibet, the Tibetans are in a decisive majority still despite the settlement of a large number of Han Chinese. In Xinjiang, the Uighurs are not in a decisive majority. Muslims constitute about 60 per cent of the Xinjiang population, but not all of them are Uighurs. The Uighutrs constitute only 45 per cent of the Xinjiang population and the Han Chinese 40 per cent. The remaining 15 per cent are Muslims of non-Uighur origin. These non-Uighur Muslims have kept away from the protests.
10.Moreover, during the uprising in Lhasa, the Tibetans did not indulge in the kind of physical brutalities against the Han Chinese similar to the brutalities allegedly inflicted by some Uighurs on the Han Chinese. From the latest reports received from Urumqi, it would appear that the protest movement was initially started by a group of secular Uighurs, owing loyalty to the Munich-based WUC, but subsequently some of the jihadi fundamentalist elements owing loyalty to the Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan, allied to Al Qaeda, infiltrated into their ranks and indulged in an orgy of violence against the Han Chinese. However, the Chinese authorities continue to project the Urumqi uprising as the handiwork of ethnic separatist terrorists. They are not talking of jihadi terrorists.
11. There is more than meets the eye in the Urumqi uprising. It took place a little more than a year after the Holland-based Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation, jointly with the WUC and the USA's National Endowment for Democracy (NED), had organised a training course----the second one--- for a group of Uighurs from the diaspora. The reported theme of the training course was "the right of self-determination". Annexed is a press statement issued on this subject at that time by the UNPO. The uprising took place less than two months after the WUC held its third world assembly in Washington DC in May,2009.
12. It is not clear why Hu had to cancel his participation in the G-8 summit and fly back almost in panic to Beijing. Was it because of the Han Chinese anger or was it because of differences in the party leadership over how to handle it? (9-7-09)
( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the Chennai Centre For China Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )
ANNEXURE
TRAINING OF UIGHURS BY NED AND UNPO ( PRESS STATEMEMENT BY UNPO)
21 April 2008
The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) together with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) organized their second leadership training seminar in two years, which opened today the 21st of April 2008. Over 50 members of the Uyghur Diaspora from around the world together with prominent academics, government representatives and
members of the civil society gathered in Berlin Germany to discuss this year’s topic “Self-Determination under International Law”.
Mr. Dolkun Isa, Secretary General of the World Uyghur Congress, opened the occasion, welcoming participants to the training seminar, manyof whom traveled some distance to attend the event, including from Australia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Norway and the United States.
President of the WUC and internationally renowned advocate of the Uyghur cause, Ms. Rebiya Kadeer, warmly greeted the audience with great energy, enthusiasm and determination. Ms. Kadeer spoke on the lack of freedom afflicting Uyghurs since the communist clamp of power in 1949, including a constant constriction of human rights by Chinese authorities. People in East Turkestan cannot imagine the amount of freedom people in the western world enjoy, explained Ms. Kadeer, and individuals in the west cannot imagine the extent of suppression people in East Turkestan are experiencing.
The international community is very familiar with the situation of Tibet, however knowledge of the situation of East Turkestan is quite limited in comparison. Nonetheless, the last two years have seen many efforts to educate the world on the poor human rights situation in East Turkestan. It is therefore essential, reminded Ms. Kadeer, to continue to educate and inform all about the Uyghur situation.
Mr. Marino Busdachin, UNPO General Secretary, further noted that survival of the Uyghur culture and identity are vital issues Uyghurs arefaced with today. Introducing the topic of self-determination, Mr. Busdachin recognized the difficulty and controversy surrounding the subject. It is important to recognize that Chinese authorities are not willing to grant full autonomy or full federal solutions to East Turkestan, he explained, however we should stay positive in the situation and focus on means of raising awareness for the Uyghur cause and on the survival of their culture. Members of the Diaspora should be weary of tendencies towards radicalization and need to stay in constant dialogue with the people in East Turkestan so as not to become estranged by their position.
UNPO and WUC were thrilled to welcome multiple guests of honour on the opening day, including Mr. Günther Nooke, Federal Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dirk Pleiter of Amnesty International, Ms. Frances Eqerer, representative of Mr. Margarete Bause from the Green Party of the Bavarian Parliament, and Mr. Feruk Unsal, Member of
Parliament in Turkey.
Mr. Nooke spoke of the importance of pursuing a nonviolent path and avoiding any further escalation within minority groups in China. He called for an analysis into the roots of recent uprisings in China and reminded China that it is in their interest to review their policies towards minority groups. These actions would then necessitate a dialogue between the government and minorities – the exact path which could nonviolently reach a solution.
Furthermore, Mr. Nooke touched upon the situation of the Uyghurs currently incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, individuals who have been found not guilty of any charges and are ready to be released immediately. The Uyhgurs cannot however return to China, as they will undoubtedly suffer severe persecution. Ironically, Mr. Nooke points out, they are largely safer in prison than they would be in China. He therefore called for civil courage in Europe and the United States to grant these individuals immigration visas. Ms. Seema Saifee, pro bono attorney for several Uyghurs at Guantanamo, confirmed this argument, underlining that they could be released tomorrow as long as a
country will admit them.
Following a lively and well-attended press conference, to which members of various media sources including Deutsche Welle TV, WDR and the Associated Press attended, participants dove right into their training material.
With the aid of moderators Mr. Ulrich Delius of the Society for Threatened Peoples and Senator Marco Perduca, newly elected Member of the Italian Parliament, participants were guided through an introductory series of lectures on the concepts of international law, avenues of self-determination and case studies of such.
Ms. Anna Batalla, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Hans-Joachim Heintze, Institute of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Mr. Michael Gibb, Oxford University, Mr. Pedro Pinto Leite, International Platform for Jurists for East Timor, and Mr. Mohamoud Daar, Somaliland Ambassador to the European Union provided participants with a series of insightful and informative lectures which sparked dynamic discussion from all present.
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