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China Continues Suppression of Islam in Provinces
By Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA, Sept 7 (IslamOnline) - China, the last remaining powerful communist country with a population of more than 1.5 billion is continuing its anti-Islam policies in provinces with large Muslim communities.
The latest news report from China concerning Muslims in the Shandong province indicated that six officials have been punished for their role in the deaths of six members of the Hui Muslim minority last December.
However, this decision does not mean Chinese authorities have abandoned its anti-Islam stance within its borders.
Chinese authorities say the Muslims died in eastern Shandong province when police opened fire during a demonstration by Hui activists in Yangxin county, when demonstrators protested the hanging of a pig's head outside their mosque.
Chinese media last week (August 27, 2001) said those convicted included senior local Communist Party and police officials, but gave no details of the precise charges or sentences.
The incident has been one of the worst clashes in years between the Han Chinese majority, and the Muslim minority community.
China's concerns with Islam drew to a height during a Muslim insurgency by Uighurs in northwest China.
Sources say the powerful Chinese communist party grew weary of threats of "Islamic militancy" after the Iranian revolution in the 1970s and the recent Islamic push in Afghanistan.
The success of the Taliban group in capturing 90% of Afghan territory and the imposition their interpretation of Islam in the country had made the Chinese cautious of Muslims within its borders.
One of the reasons cited for the growing concern by Chinese is that communist rulers are not happy that many Muslims, whose ancestors owed no traditional allegiance to Beijing, are continuing on an independent pace.
In China, there are 18 million followers of Islam scattered among 10 ethnic groups.
The Muslims of the traditional Chinese heartland are called the Hui and are often indistinguishable from their Han Chinese neighbors.
The Hui community is not the cause for concern though. They have intermarried with non-Muslims and have lost many of their customs and are frequently secular in their approach.
It is the Muslim population of Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region that exorcises the minds of the Chinese leadership. Recent years have seen the mobilization of Islam in the cause of their struggle.
The Uighurs are of Turkish origin, who intermarried with the Chinese. They possess their own language and a distinctive Islamic culture.
Uighur independence seekers lay claim to the revival of a short-lived earlier political entity of Eastern Turkestan, which was captured by the Chinese during the time of Mao Tze Dung, the first communist leader of modern China.
The western Uighur region of Xinjiang is rich in minerals, oil and gas - resources lacking in the Chinese heartland and essential for China's growth and stability.
Beijing has no interest in allowing the growth of activist Islam in this region due to the economic implications.
In an attempt to prevent the spreading of activism among the Uighurs, Chinese authorities have decided to vet the Friday sermons delivered by imams in the province, as well as to prevent "wrong" interpretations of verses from the Holy Qur'an (Muslim holy book) by activists.
Chinese authorities have characterized Muslim activists in the province as prominent underworld activists and the most menacing criminal groups in Xinjiang.
The Chinese communist party said although Uighar independence elements are small in number, they have caused bombings and terrorist incidents for more than 10 years.
Although China's constitution guarantees equality for its 56 recognized ethnic groups, people not belonging to the majority Han group are treated as second-class citizens, the U.N. conference on Racism in South Africa said.
A U.N. human rights body this month called on countries, including China and the United States, to punish racial discrimination and uphold the rights of minorities.
The U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, whose 18 independent experts examined the records of nine states, voiced concern about the right to freedom of religion, particularly in Tibet and Muslim areas of the western region of Xinjiang.
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