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Criminalizing a Religion
By Hwaa Irfan
20/11/2001
One wants to believe that the current conflict "it's not a war against Islam." We just want to be able to get on with our lives, but even that is questionable these days. When did one's sense of humanity have a point of departure? Does it just go where the wind blows?
Fifty-four year old Rebiya Kadeer is an example of financial success and is praised by Beijing. Thus, she was "appointed" as a representative for the Uighur (Muslim) minorities to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. There she spoke out against policies that favored the Han in Xinjiang. She also opened a school on the fifth floor of her building to teach poor Uighur children. As a result, she was imprisoned for allegedly proselytizing the Islamic faith. Family friends said, "Her crime was that she was too charismatic…The common Uighurs adored her. The Han wanted her to serve only the Han and not her own people. The Han cannot tolerate that. They decided she needed to be removed." Now her business rests on the shoulders of her 23-year-old son Aleem, who is trained in forensic medicine.
This August, China completed a month of large-scale military exercises parading hardware through the center of Kashgar. Not reported in the Chinese media is that 50,000 troops were involved in the exercise. China has sought to suppress the Turkic-speaking Uighurs through various means:
a) By encouraging the Han Chinese to settle in the region via the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (a paramilitary organization) that since 1954 have moved 2.4 million Han into Xinjiang region. Now of 18 million people, 38% are Han Chinese and 44% are Uighurs with minorities of Kazakh, Tajik, Hui and others.
b) flooding the region with money and
c) by creating a ruling class in Xingjiang from Uighurs loyal to Beijing! (Pomfret, p.29).
Increasingly, Western reporters speak of travel restrictions by the Chinese authorities on Arabs and Muslims. A retired Egyptian diplomat who recently served in China was refused a visa this month. Last month, a number of furious Egyptian ministers expressed concern about the "deplorable situation" of Muslims in China in Egypt's National Assembly. Chinese ambassador to Egypt Liu Xianing dismissed their concerns as malicious allegations made to drive a wedge between China and Arabs and Muslim countries. The ambassador only conceded that China has sealed off the China-Afghan border; claming it was only a temporary restriction on foreigners and journalists, following the U.S. air-strikes (Nkrumah, p.1, 2).
Since September 11, China has requested "assistance" against "Muslim terrorists". Amnesty International has recorded 2,960 death sentences and 1,781 executions from April to June this year. Amnesty argues that China is using September 11th to justify extremely harsh repression of Muslims in Xinjiang (Amnesty #1, p.2).
Xinjiang is half the size of India and most of China's oil deposits and main nuclear weapons test sites are in Xinjiang (Pomfret p.2). The planned $20 billion gas and oil pipeline links from Kazakhstan to China would run through Xinjiang (McGregor, p.1, 2).
Demonized by Beijing, exiled Uighurs expressed unhappiness about headlines such as "unrest" and "crackdown" because they consider it unhelpful. Now they risk suffering again under the same negative treatment in the world press (Gittings, p.6).
Since September 11, governments have been rushing through imposing draconian measures that only succeed in threatening the human and civil rights of their citizens, immigrants and refugees (Amnesty #1p.1). Proposals include the right to detain indefinitely and deport immigrants without prior evidence against them, disallowing legal representation and hindering the means by which to transfer people suspected of criminal offences from one E.U. state by replacing it with extradition proceedings under a European arrest warrant. Where was this thinking when Pinochet was residing in Britain and Belgian courts had the right to try Sharon? Didn't you know that Israel qualified as a European country after its participated in the European Song Contest? (Amnesty, #1 p.2).
Although there is some opposition in the U.S. Congress, a proposal has been introduced to include "guilt by association" (Amnesty #1p.1). Do you know of the activities of every single person you associate? Does this make you a criminal because you were seen exchanging pleasantries? If someone's views differ from yours, does this make them or you a security threat? Russia is looking at the right to detain a suspect with "terrorist and organized crime links" for up to 30 days. This will help solve the Chechnya problem no doubt.
Maybe Islam is not the "ideal" religion, because embedded within it are ideas like human rights for every man, woman and child regardless of their status. Maybe it is a bit too much for a world that would prefer the opposite. A world that can be controlled at will, devoid of humanity.
Sources:
Amnesty Int'l. #1. "The Backlash-Human Rights at Risk Throughout the World." 10/04/01. 1-5. Document Library. Themes. Amnesty.org. 10/16/01.
Amnesty Int'l. #2. "Act Now: Death Penalty/Fear of Imminent Execution." 10/18/01. 1-2. Document Library. Latest Information. Amnesty.org. 10/16/01.
Gittings, John. "China Demonizes Taliban's Uighur Neighbors." The Guardian
Weekly. 165:16 (2001) 6.
McGregor, Richard. "China Completes Military Exercises in Muslim Region." 08/14/01. 1-2. Asia Pacific. News & Analysis. World. (Financial Times) FT.com. 08/20/01.
Nkrumah, Gamal. "Testing Time." Al-Ahram Weekly Online. 556 (2001). 1-4. 10/22/01.
Pomfret, John. "China Uses Carrot and Stick to Curb Restive Uighurs in Xinjiang." The Guardian Weekly. 163:10(2000) 29
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