Persecution of Uyghurs in China

"I believe, however, that the hatred of the Chinese Communists, hatred which dates back to Mao Zedong, is much more violent towards Tibetan Buddhism than it is against the Islamic separatists of Xinjiang. Moreover, recently, a senior Chinese official commented that Tibetan separatism is more dangerous than that of Xinjiang. Strange, when we are a religion that preaches absolute non-violence. Besides, I will give you an example of this hateful partiality against my people: in Chinese prisons, the prison guards respect Muslim customs by not serving pork, but they force Buddhist monks to kill cows and pigs, knowing that our religion forbids it."

"Frankly, I don’t know much about it... If I had enough knowledge I would speak about it. It is not so much in the papers."

"I did not find any instance of forced labor or cultural and religious repression. The imams we met at the mosques and the students and teachers at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute told us that they enjoy freedom in practicing Islam and that the Chinese government extends support for maintenance of mosques all over Xinjiang. I learned that there are over 30,000 mosques all over Xinjiang that form part of the religious life of the people there. Similarly, I did not see any sign of cultural repression... My country is also plagued by terrorism. I hope my country can adopt some of these measures, such as setting up a vocational education and training center and carrying out poverty alleviation work, to help de-extremization. But they don't have so much money to do this."

"I think often of persecuted peoples: the Rohingya, the poor Uyghurs, the Yazidi -- what ISIS did to them was truly cruel -- or Christians in Egypt and Pakistan killed by bombs that went off while they prayed in church."

"[W]e are a 100% satisfied that it’s a non-issue. The West can say what it wants. I am telling you as a responsible official, we know everything we need to know about the Uighurs and everything else in China as they do about us. We have zero concerns, absolutely zero concerns."

"After careful examination of the available facts, I have determined that since at least March 2017, the People’s Republic of China, under the direction and control of the Chinese Communist Party, has committed crimes against humanity against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other members of ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang."

"Because of our extreme proximity and relationship with China, we actually accept the Chinese version... It is hypocritical. There are much worse human rights violations taking place in other parts of the world… But Western media hardly comment on this."

"I’m not sure that’s what’s happening in China. In our conversations with China, they have drawn a different picture of the issue. And whatever issues we do have with the Chinese, we will always discuss them behind closed doors."

"But Khan’s work in championing the world’s Muslims is undercut by his deafening silence on the oppression of the Uighur community in China... When asked publicly about the Uighurs, Khan’s responses range from declaring he knows little about the issue to saying he is discussing the matter privately with Beijing."

"Pakistan remains of the firm view that the perspective and consent of the concerned States should be given utmost importance when dealing with the affairs which fall exclusively within their sovereign jurisdiction."

"By receiving billions of dollars from China, these countries are not only forced to remain quiet on the genocidal atrocities against Uyghur Muslims in East Turkistan but also commanded from Beijing to do whatever the PRC wants."

"The Turkish side never uses Xinjiang-related issues as a tool against China and has long designated the ETIM (East Turkistan Islamic Movement) as a terrorist organization and banned its activities in Turkey."

"In China, Uyghurs and other Muslims have difficulties protecting their religious rights and cultural identity... Is it right to ignore the situation of the Uyghurs?"

"Why is it wrong for [the] Uyghurs to seek help from other states to protect their national existence and gain national freedom and to seek partners in international conflicts, while the country of Pakistan, where you studied, has the right to receive help from [the Communist régime ruling] China at the expense of sacrificing the rights of Uyghur Muslims to feed its own people with blood-tainted Chinese [Communist Party] money?"

", an [American] anthropologist, is Assistant Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a specialist of Xinjiang. In new, fascinating research he reports a strange phenomenon. Irrigation channels are clogged in Southern Xinjiang but there have been no landslides or other natural incidents. They are clogged by books. Villagers go there at night and dump all the volumes they kept at home. The police are visiting their homes and would arrest them if they find religious, subversive, or otherwise “dissident” literature. Since they don’t know what books may be regarded as subversive, to be on the safer side they dump all of them. Elsewhere, books are dumped in the sewers, and they are also obstructed."

"The spark that ignited the [June 15, 1988 Uyghur Xinjiang University students'] protest came after years of systematic discrimination and humiliation of Uyghur students. On May 5, 1988, racist and degrading graffiti were scrawled in the restroom of the Physics Department at Xinjiang University in Urumqi. The words included vile slogans such as: “Let’s make Uyghur men slaves, and turn their girls into prostitutes.” Despite the disgraceful nature of this incident, the university administration and authorities remained silent. Uyghur students attempted to voice their concerns through legal and official channels, submitting petitions and seeking dialogue. All efforts were either rejected or ignored. It became clear—silence was no longer an option. …What started as discrimination in the 1980s has now escalated into full-scale genocide."