SHAH ALAM, 17 July: The fate of the Uyghur ethnicity in the province of Xinjiang, China, is deemed to be more unfortunate compared to the residents in Gaza following the violence and oppression against them almost every day just for practicing the teachings of Islam.
The Malaysian Youth Movement (ABIM) Legal Executive Councillor, Mohd Khauirul Anwar Ismail, said that the Chinese authorities have always held tight control at focus areas like mosques, universities and schools to ensure that no one violates the rules set by the government.
He said that if the tribe was found to be in violation of the rules, they will be taken to the police station to be tortured and possibly brutally killed.
“The Chinese government’s policy is that we will not know where these victims are taken, and even if they are sentenced, no one will know.
“If we see it from the context of oppression, there is brutality in the two provinces. The difference is that in Xinjiang, it happens every day, but in Gaza, at least it (oppression) happens at specific times.
“The people of Gaza can live in peace, but during the Ramadan month, there are bomb attacks. However, according to reports from mission aids there, Gaza is far more peaceful,” he said in a special interview which was also attended by the Vice President of ABIM, Mohamad Raimi Ab Rahim, with Selangor Kini today.
Khairul said that the Uyghur people are sometimes arrested without cause, injured and killed, while women face the risk of being raped.
He said that sometimes, only the victim’s body is handed over to the family members; however the authorities there will argue that the death was due to illness while the victim was in custody.
“Once the authorities there meet the suspect, they have the licence to kill, capture and so on, but if the person is not a suspect, they would rape them.
“Normally, if they are in prison, the victim arrested will be declared missing,” he said.
The identity of Muslims are prohibited from being shown in the province of Xinjiang, like men keeping beards, the prohibition of wearing veils, civil servants who are below the age of 18 are not allowed to pray and the latest is the ban on fasting which is being enforced especially in schools and universities.
In fact, Muslims there continue to face pressure from the Chinese government when students of the ethnicity were threatened to be expelled or lose their career opportunities if they fast.
The Chinese government claimed that the campaign to prohibit fasting is an effort to deal with what is considered to be “terrorist acts” by the Uyghur Muslim minority.
NS
