7 July 2014

CHINA BANS RAMADAN IN UIGHUR NORTHWEST – ANALYSIS


By JTW
By Emre Tunç Sakaoğlu

The Chinese government banned Ramadan fasting for the Uighur minority in the country. Various public agencies, schools, newspapers, and official websites issued notices on the ban.

According to posts on official websites belonging to various public institutions, from grade schools and universities to the forestry and weather bureaus, students, teachers, civil servants, and party members, together with their families, are forbidden to observe Ramadan, which began at sundown on June 28.

Beijing deems fasting detrimental to students’ health and performance according to statements on several official websites of local governments such as the one in Yili. And in some cities such as Bole, municipal authorities as well as teachers are physically stopping Uighur children from going to mosques, according to media reports.

Harsh restrictions against Uighurs have also come to the fore in the counties of Zhaosu (Mongolkure), Ruoqiang (Kargilik), and Hotan, according to media reports. Moreover, in Turpan County, Muslims are even forbidden from performing the Salat prayer ritual at mosques.

Due to the indiscriminate implementation of the ban in many cities and counties of Xinjiang this year, many Uighurs who are to benefit from public services such as healthcare, are forced to sign documents pledging that neither them nor their families will take part in traditional fasting during the Islamic holy month.

A spokesperson for the exiled rights group World Uighur Congress told AFP that Chinese authorities were even inspecting houses in the region to see if people were fasting, and keeping record of the ones who were.

‘Business as usual’

Students of Uighur origin have not been allowed to wear clothes associated with their religious faith in Xinjiang in the past, and the ban continues to date. Moreover, students and teachers are still not allowed to participate in daily prayer even outside their schools.

Such restrictions on Muslim students have been implemented for years in order to protect them from ‘religious influences’, according to officials.

The Communist Party, which is officially atheist, stands against the “promotion of religion” in China. It is said to be wary of religious activities and groups because they can lay the ground for organized opposition to its single-party rule.

Worship is more strictly controlled in Xinjiang and neighboring Tibet because these are autonomous regions harboring minorities with distinct and well-established religious identities. And Uighurs are under close scrutiny due to their strong sense of ethnic and religious identity which easily differentiates them from the Han Chinese majority and the Communist Party.

Security as a pretext

After popular unrest which erupted in 2009 was harshly suppressed by security forces, leaving more than 300 dead in Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, inter-communal violence between Uighurs and the Han Chinese, as well as terrorist attacks by radicals, has become common.

Violence associated with Uighurs has escalated all around the country especially in recent months with Xinjiang at the outset. On May 22, a bomb attack in a market at Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang, led to the deaths of 43 people including the assailants. Likewise, on June 22, 13 Uighurs were killed and 3 police officers were wounded after a car rigged with explosives drove into a local police station in Kashgar.

Also, two recent attacks by assailants of Uighur origin were carried out against civilians at train stations in Urumqi and Kunming, the capital of the southwestern province of Yunnan. Officials blame Islamic extremists and separatists, with foreign terrorist ties, for consequent attacks against government, police, and civilian targets.

As a response to the string of fatal attacks in question and the unabated unrest among Uighurs, Beijing has recently started enforcing a security crackdown in the region. Last month it set a public rally to announce the arrest of 380 suspects who were associated with the latest events. But the government also tightened its grip over communal and cultural practices of the Uighur people, including mosque gatherings and fasting, in a bid to punish the Uighur people en masse.

A downtrodden people

Local Muslims blame the central government of inflaming violence and exaggerating the threat in order to have an excuse for repressive policies, assimilation campaigns, and the imposition of restrictions on communal rituals and cultural practices.

According to the native residents of Xinjiang, economic discrimination and harsh treatment by the police against ordinary Uighurs, added to cultural restrictions such as the prohibition of taking children to mosques, further fuel tensions between the Han Chinese immigrants and the native Uighurs.

Around 45% of the population that currently resides in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region consists of Uighurs, a pre-dominantly Muslim people of Turkic origin.

Muslims all over the world, during the month-long ritual of Ramadan, fast from dawn to dusk. Ramadan is celebrated as a communal festival in many Muslim countries, where related daily events serve as a prominent symbol of spirituality, solidarity, and piety.

JTW - the Journal of Turkish Weekly - is a respected Turkish news source in English language on international politics. Established in 2004, JTW is published by Ankara-based Turkish think tank International Strategic Research Organization (USAK).

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