Uighur Muslim Kicked from Home Over Niqab

[scorpionx]

Romantic Religious idealism succumbs to geo-political inhibition

 

[monitor]

You said the truth buddy.
But isn't that a hypocrisy??

Actually it is Kneeling down to Geo political reality .

 

[Gautam]

Actually it is Kneeling down to Geo political reality .

Okay so we agree that its all about Geo Politics and no real love for religious brotherhood and care for Indian Muslims (or any minority for that matter). Though it also qualifies for hypocrisy, but whatever. I am happy that you at least admit the reality.

 

[Roybot]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/world/asia/over-news-of-clash-a-shroud-of-silence-in-xinjiang.html?_r=0

The situation highlights the growing challenge to Beijing’s administration of resource-rich Xinjiang, which borders several Central Asian nations, as well as Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Experts say hard-line policies aimed at maintaining stability are only deepening longstanding grievances among Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people increasingly alarmed by the migration of Han Chinese lured by jobs and economic incentives.

But tighter religious restrictions have incited much of the violence since 2009, analysts say. Civil servants may not fast during the holy month of Ramadan; college students must attend weekly political education classes; and armed police officers frequently raid unauthorized religious schools.

Perhaps most incendiary are campaigns against women who wear head scarves and young men with beards. The crackdown, which the local authorities describe as a battle against religious extremism, is an expression of Beijing’s fears that the militant Islamism that has destabilized Pakistan and Afghanistan could complicate its efforts to turn Xinjiang into a regional trading hub.

The central government has become increasingly alarmed by its inability to stanch the unrest. In the days after the violence in Hotan, President Xi Jinping held a special meeting in Beijing and senior leaders were dispatched to calm jittery Xinjiang residents. “We will step up actions to crack down upon terrorist groups and extremist organizations and track the wanted,” said Yu Zhengsheng, the Chinese leader in charge of ethnic and religious affairs, Xinhua reported.

But residents say the Hanerik shooting victims were unarmed civilians simply seeking an end to heavy-handed policing. The seeds of the confrontation were planted in mid-June, when the authorities detained Mettursun Metseydi, the young imam of an unauthorized mosque on the rural edge of Hanerik. Mr. Metseydi had been drawing increasing crowds with sermons that condemned the government’s religious restrictions, most pointedly on head coverings.

The rules imposed fines on Hotan taxi drivers who picked up veiled women and prohibited doctors from treating women who refused to remove head scarves, a number of residents said. “The imam said that forcing women to remove their veils during police checks was a humiliation,” said a teacher whose cousin attended the mosque.


According to several accounts, including local Uighur officials who spoke to Radio Free Asia, the authorities sealed the mosque on June 21, but congregants forced their way in the following Friday. Around 1:30 p.m., after worshiping on their own, the men spilled into the street brimming with anger. Before long, about 400 people had gathered, and it was decided that they would march to Hotan.

Shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God Is Great,” they brushed past a dozen police officers who tried to block them. But after entering the highway to Hotan, they were confronted by a line of paramilitary police atop a pedestrian bridge. According to one account, some marchers carried farm implements; others said some waved lengths of wood.

Alim Seytoff, president of the Uyghur American Association, said the marchers hesitated, then surged forward. “It seems then the soldiers got nervous and opened fire,” he said.

What happened next is unclear, but several sources, including local officials, said the police continued to shoot, picking off those who tried to flee, including a number of people on motorcycles.

Abdulhekim Weliyop, chairman of Hotan County’s People’s Congress, confirmed some details with Radio Free Asia. “Yes, a terrible tragedy happened,” he said. The following day, he said Uighur officials were made to watch video footage of the marchers and asked to identify them.

Yusup Imin Tohti, the Communist Party secretary of a neighboring village, said he had heard that 37 people had died. The South China Morning Post, citing two local sources, put the toll as high as 60. Local officials said at least 200 people were arrested.

Hotan security officials declined to discuss the episode, and an office in Urumqi that handles inquiries from foreign reporters refused to answer faxed questions.

A day after the episode, a 29-year-old Uighur doctor who works at a hospital outside Hotan said that county officials warned the staff against treating patients with gunshot wounds. “We were told we would be arrested,” he said. The bodies of those killed were taken to the desert and burned, he said.

Mr. Weliyop, the party official, blamed the young iman from Hanerik for the bloody confrontation. “He constantly talked about a holy war, and his preaching violated the government’s line,” he said. “Young people were incited by his teaching, and they lost their lives.”

But few residents in Hotan see it that way, noting that the protesters were unarmed. “The Chinese killed our brothers in the street like they were dogs,” said a young taxi driver named Yusuf. “We will have our revenge.”

Its just amazing,

@notsuperstitious , @Bang Galore, @rubyjackass @kalu_miah @asad71 @kobiraaz @BDforever @Wholegrain @Developereo @Awesome @sur

---

-- Taxi drivers are being fined for picking up Muslim women who wear Niqab/Burka.


-- Doctors are being forced to not treat Muslim women if they don't take their veil off.


-- Doctors are being ordered not to treat Muslims with gunshot wounds and their bodies are burnt in the desert.


-- Muslim women is thrown out of her apartment for wearing Niqab.

---

I can't fathom the volume of outrage this sorta persecution and discrimination would generate if it happened in some western country or India.

 

[BDforever]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/world/asia/over-news-of-clash-a-shroud-of-silence-in-xinjiang.html?_r=0




Its just amazing,

@notsuperstitious , @Bang Galore, @rubyjackass @kalu_miah @asad71 @kobiraaz @BDforever @Wholegrain @Developereo @Awesome @sur

---

-- Taxi drivers are being fined for picking up Muslim women who wear Niqab/Burka.


-- Doctors are being forced to not treat Muslim women if they don't take their veil off.


-- Doctors are being ordered not to treat Muslims with gunshot wounds and their bodies are burnt in the desert.


-- Muslim women is thrown out of her apartment for wearing Niqab.

---

I can't fathom the volume of outrage this sorta persecution and discrimination would generate if it happened in some western country or India.

hmmm ... shame on you China

 

[Developereo]

I can't fathom the volume of outrage this sorta persecution and discrimination would generate if it happened in some western country or India.

This continues to escape Indian comprehension, understandably, but the Uyghur conflict is primarily ethnic not religious. Other Chinese Muslims are not persecuted for their religion, so there is no case to be made of systematic Muslim oppression in China. Also, China's policy towards all religions is strict; so, again, Muslims are not being singled out.

The situation in other countries merits attention because Muslims are specifically singled out for special mistreatment, contrary to the secular principles touted.

And, since YOU brought up India, India is one of the worst offenders in this regard. Indian police is notorious for targeting Muslims under false pretenses.

In the context of separatist movements, as the Uyghur movement is, shall we discuss the Indian security forces' record in Kashmir towards Muslims?

I suggest all the "concerned" Indians work for the betterment of their fellow Indian Muslim citizens before pointing fingers elsewhere.

 

[asad71]

This is NY Times report. A Chinese member should verify whether this is another fake that we are also witnessing in the Syrian war.

 

[Roybot]

This continues to escape Indian comprehension, understandably, but the Uyghur conflict is primarily ethnic not religious. Other Chinese Muslims are not persecuted for their religion, so there is no case to be made of systematic Muslim oppression in China. Also, China's policy towards all religions is strict; so, again, Muslims are not being singled out.

The situation in other countries merits attention because Muslims are specifically singled out for special mistreatment, contrary to the secular principles touted.

And, since YOU brought up India, India is one of the worst offenders in this regard. Indian police is notorious for targeting Muslims under false pretenses.

In the context of separatist movements, as the Uyghur movement is, shall we discuss the Indian security forces' record in Kashmir towards Muslims?

I suggest all the "concerned" Indians work for the betterment of their fellow Indian Muslim citizens before pointing fingers elsewhere.

If the conflict was ethnic why are they cracking down on Islamic practices?

 

[Developereo]

If the conflict was ethnic why are they cracking down on Islamic practices?

The Chinese members have already addressed this point also. Several times.

The only religious practices being affected are those with implications for security and, again, only in the context of a violent separatist movement.

The authorities' reaction is not because the practices are Islamic, but because they are used as cover for violence. If the Uyghurs were Christian and were holding separatist meetings in churches, the authorities would react accordingly.

A face covering veil has security implications and everyone here, including Pakistanis, have agreed that security concerns should always trump any religious issues in all countries.

 

[Roybot]

The Chinese members have already addressed this point also. Several times.

The only religious practices being affected are those with implications for security and, again, only in the context of a violent separatist movement.

The authorities' reaction is not because the practices are Islamic, but because they are used as cover for violence. If the Uyghurs were Christian and were holding separatist meetings in churches, the authorities would react accordingly.

A face covering veil has security implications and everyone here, including Pakistanis, have agreed that security concerns should always trump any religious issues in all countries.

So are you saying that taxis not providing service to Muslim women with veil, or doctors not rendering medical service to Muslim women until they take their veil off, or doctors being given orders not to treat Muslim gunshot wound patients is perfectly ok, cause they have security implications?

Why are the security concerns of the Chinese different from the security concern of the French?

 

[Götterdämmerung]

Well done China! any person who viel his/her identity in the public is not acceptable, not only because it's an issue of security, it's also lack of respect for other people. No open and enlightened society can function when the person you communicate directly with can't be identified from the first moment.

 

[Sukapha]

@Zarvan @turbo charged what do you think, how can pakistan using their esteemed position as the vanguard of ummah convince, if not force china to stop such practices?

Ummah summah is all bunk. If the Ummah word had any resonance, inter Arab fighting will not be as vicious as it is now, the Palestanians in Lebanon, Jordan,Syria, Iraq would not be confined to desperate refugee camps and Pakistanis, after working in the gulf for 50 years would have been granted citizenship there.

 

[Spring Onion]

Hey @Roybot , what will you bet if I say that not more than 2 green flags will post their views on this thread ??

You mean the way we see no tricolor flag condemning Israeli atrocities against Palestinians or we see more tricolor Indian members supporting Israeli atrocities against Muslims.

Anyway we don't see any Red flag poking their nose in green flags' internal matters unlike Indians.

 

[Götterdämmerung]

Why are the security concerns of the Chinese different from the security concern of the French?

Maybe because France doesn't have a Muslim minority that wants a piece of French territory separated, even with the help of terrorism and foreign organisations? Think!

 

[Developereo]

So are you saying that taxis not providing service to Muslim women with veil, or doctors not rendering medical service to Muslim women until they take their veil off, or doctors being given orders not to treat Muslim gunshot wound patients is perfectly ok, cause they have security implications?

Why are the security concerns of the Chinese different from the security concern of the French?

Assuming these claims are true and, even so, are not describing temporary state-of-emergency rules, the fundamental difference is that we are talking about a region in the throes of a violent separatist movement. Under these conditions, a certain tightening of civil liberties is expected.

Such is not the case in France.