China vows to crush unrest in Xinjiang China has vowed to crush any unrest in its far West after violent clashes left 156 dead and threatened to destabilise the region.
By Peter Foster in Urumqi and Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Published: 6:26PM BST 06 Jul 2009
Riot in Urumqi: The disturbances come after a year of rising tensions between the dominant Han Chinese authorities and the Uighur ethnic.
Senior government officials said they would tighten Beijing's control on the troubled desert province of Xinjiang after riots in Urumqi threatened to spill over into other cities.
Wang Lequan, a senior member of the Politburo and party secretary of the region, said running battles between Muslim Uighurs and the Chinese police had been "a profound lesson learned in blood".
He promised the authorities would "take the most resolute and strongest measures to deal with the enemies' latest attempt at sabotage".
Xinhua, the state newswire, said the attacks were a "pre-empted, organised violent crime, instigated and directed from abroad and carried out by outlaws in the country."
Last year, the government launched a strike-hard campaign in Xinjiang after a series of attacks on policemen ahead of the Olympic games. The suppression included the closing of mosques and markets in some cities, and increased surveillance of Uighurs.
Wang spoke as there were reports of violence spreading with witnesses claiming several hundred rioters had fought with police in Kashgar, the second-largest Uighur city.
People's Liberation Army trucks were spotted arriving in Kashgar yesterday evening. Mobile phone and internet communications had also been cut across several cities to prevent any attempts at another co-ordinated protest.
Uighur activists accused the Chinese authorities of machine-gunning protesters in the streets. Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the World Uighur Congress in Exile, said the police had opened fire on the crowd when it reached the local government offices.
"Around 5pm on Sunday afternoon, several thousand Uighurs including workers, students and some Urumqi citizens started a peaceful protest, demanding that the government should stop discrimination, stop importing cheap Uighur labour to work on the mainland and a fair inquiry into the murder of two workers.
"They were carrying banners and slogans, they marched towards the municipal government's building. The government tried to stop them and asked the protesters to disperse and go home, but the protesters refused. An hour later, around 6pm military forces started to show up and they used machine guns to shoot randomly at Uighurs on the street. At least 150 people died in the firing."
He added that the authorities had conducted door-to-door searches and arrested 1,000 Uighurs.
And as for the onewho fears standing in front of His Lord and restrainsthe soul from impure evil desires and lusts, verily, Paradise will be his abode [79:40-41]
typical china - May Allah swt help the muslims in china.
peace
Do you think the pious don't sin?
They merely:
Veiled themselves and didn't flaunt it
Sought forgiveness and didn't persist
Took ownership of it and don't justify it
And acted with excellence after they had erred - Ibn al-Qayyim
Whenever something happens in Tibet, the whole world is up in arms. But if something happens in Xinjiang, nothing is said.
Hardly. Tibet tends to get more publicity principally because of the high profile of the Dalai Lama, and because more people have heard of it. Still, though, nothing actually gets done as people are too afraid of upsetting the Chinese.
Here, though, we must seek unity not division. The Tibetan and Uighur people suffer under the same oppressors, and their struggle to maintain their cultural identity and tradition should be considered a common one.
Hardly. Tibet tends to get more publicity principally because of the high profile of the Dalai Lama, and because more people have heard of it. Still, though, nothing actually gets done as people are too afraid of upsetting the Chinese.
Here, though, we must seek unity not division. The Tibetan and Uighur people suffer under the same oppressors, and their struggle to maintain their cultural identity and tradition should be considered a common one.
BTW, this is a pretty big story on BBC.
Thats exactly my point. Having the Dalai Lama as a spiritual figure should not result in one cause being of more importance than the other. The way to get more people to be aware of Xinjiang is for the media to make more of an issue of it, which they don't.
By Chris Buckley Chris Buckley – 1 hr 10 mins ago
URUMQI, China (Reuters) – Han Chinese armed with iron bars and machetes spilled down side streets and into the stairwell of an apartment building on Tuesday in looking for Muslim Uighur targets two days after bloody ethnic clashes killed 156 and wounded more than 1,000.
Chinese riot police used tear gas to try to break up protests in the capital of the Muslim region of Xinjiang and will enforce an overnight curfew to try to quell the violence in which many people were wounded. There were no immediate reports of deaths.
Hundreds of protesters from China's predominant Han ethnic group, many clutching meat cleavers, metal pipes and wooden clubs, smashed shops owned by Uighurs, a Turkic largely Islamic people who share linguistic and cultural bonds with Central Asia.
I wonder how many people recall any history from the late 1800s? At that time nearly 90% of all Muslims in China were slaughtered. In Many provinces 100% of the Muslims were slaughtered, yet in less than 100 years the Chinese Muslim Population bounced back.
the sad thing about this is that Muslims really cant do anything about it, which shows the sad state of affairs that we are in. tut tut tut!!!!!!!!!!!! with all the natural resources and money we have, we should be the richest and most powerful nation on earth.
Having the Dalai Lama as a spiritual figure should not result in one cause being of more importance than the other.
Not more important, just a higher profile. You can hardly blame the Tibetans for producing a Nobel Peace laureate while the Uighurs (to my knowledge) have not.
BBCs coverage is shoddy to say the least.
The Chinese are even less enthusiastic about BBC reporters wandering the streets during civil turmoil than the Iranians. Coverage is no better anywhere else.
Not more important, just a higher profile. You can hardly blame the Tibetans for producing a Nobel Peace laureate while the Uighurs (to my knowledge) have not.
The Chinese are even less enthusiastic about BBC reporters wandering the streets during civil turmoil than the Iranians. Coverage is no better anywhere else.
It is higher profile which is incorrect. Nobel Prize or not - both are suffering.
Also, you're right - coverage in the mainstream isn't any better which tells its own story
why does everybody hate the BBC - maybe the British tax payer should get rid of it.
Do you think the pious don't sin?
They merely:
Veiled themselves and didn't flaunt it
Sought forgiveness and didn't persist
Took ownership of it and don't justify it
And acted with excellence after they had erred - Ibn al-Qayyim
why does everybody hate the BBC - maybe the British tax payer should get rid of it.
I always thought that was a pretty good sign; if all 'sides' think you are biased you are probably as far from being biased as is realistically possible.
I always thought that was a pretty good sign; if all 'sides' think you are biased you are probably as far from being biased as is realistically possible.
there reporting is weak post of them anyway. Never said anyone thought that they were bias but that they were hated all over the world.
Do you think the pious don't sin?
They merely:
Veiled themselves and didn't flaunt it
Sought forgiveness and didn't persist
Took ownership of it and don't justify it
And acted with excellence after they had erred - Ibn al-Qayyim
What if the Uighurs were Christian Rather than Muslim?
By Glenn Greenwald
Muslims generally -- not just Al Qaeda -- replaced Communists as our New Enemy and became the new enabling force for our endless state of War and never-ending expansions of executive power.
Rather obviously, the Uighurs were swept into the Enemy category solely by virtue of their status as Muslims.
The current crisis in Xinjiang was started by an incident in a toy factory in Guandong. You can watch it here: http://fromleedstopalestine.blogspot...t-sparked.html
I recommend everyone read up on the plight of the Uighur Muslims, the fact that they cannot practice Islam because of China makes their issue worse than a lot of issues in the muslim world.
PS: If you are a student in the UK, then join FOSIS's Uighur Muslims campaign throughout the year. We cannot abandon our brothers and sisters in China.
Would you have bothered to post about this if the Uighurs weren't Muslims?
May be yes , may be no but how this is an issue ? I am not a working journalist . It's not my duty to report people about what is going on around the world . But the mainstream media normally ignore the news where Muslims are the victims ; but the same media love to condemn Islam when the alleged criminals are Muslims.
I read in Harun Yahya's book that Uighurs Muslims are not allowed to enter in to China's main land . In my country , if minority Hindus & Christians are banned in to entering Capital , I can't think how media will portrait my country ( a Muslim majority land) . But no media bother to condem Chinese Govt. for torturing Muslims like this.
Christ will never be proud to reject to be a slave to God .....holy Quran, chapter Women , 4: 172
Now this has to be an interesting "Coincidence". I persoanally do not believe in coincendences and see all things as part of an overall plan.
BEIJING – More than 400,000 people have left their homes after an earthquake rocked southwestern China, killing one person and destroying thousands of houses, state media said Friday.
Thursday's magnitude-6.0 temblor, centered in Yunnan province's Yao'an county, also injured 325 others, 24 seriously, the Xinhua News Agency said
I had read the news, very sad that the Uighurs were victimized in Guangdong first and their rights were denied. I do not want to condemn Han people but I think that they are too much. In my country pre-Independence, almost the same thing happen. When Red Communism based from China brutally killing muslims in my country after the Japs left. Even a muslim girl (now already a grandma) was absorbed with force into Chinese identity while she is a Malay and a Muslim. She was earlier shoot after she and her friends finished their washing in the waterfall near the jungle. I can't get the news, because I didn't save it. If not I could bring it here for international readers viewing.
the sad thing about this is that Muslims really cant do anything about it, which shows the sad state of affairs that we are in. tut tut tut!!!!!!!!!!!! with all the natural resources and money we have, we should be the richest and most powerful nation on earth.
The same can be said about Palestine and Somalia. I mean, those two countries are practically surrounded by other Muslim countries, but look at them. They're still suffering. One country has zionists massacring them left and right with the support of the US, and the other has a bunch of warlords using the religion to get power.
It's a sad state of affairs. I was watching Chinese Muslims on TV being beaten simply for protesting, and their masajid being closed on Friday so they couldn't pray. I was actually quite aware of this since last Ramadan when they were shown on TV secretly fasting because the Chinese gov't was watching them. They are in my du'as.
I am a Chinese Han Muslim and would like to comment.
Since I am both Chinese (Han) and a Muslim I feel I understand both sides.
I have a written a lot of articles about the subject of China, Islam and Xinjiang.
For now I will try and keep this short. Please do not believe the lies and propaganda in the media.
China is not cracking down on Muslims or targeting them. In fact Islam has had a long tradition in China, since the time of the Prophet (PBUH) and some of the oldest Mosques are in China, some are over 1200 years old.
All the reports and complaints for Muslims only come out of Xinjiang, why is this? There are Muslims, Mosques and Halal restaurants in every Chinese city, from the south to the north, including Beijing and Shanghai.
I am sad to say, I feel our Muslim brothers (Uighur's in Xinjiang) are lying. They are under the leadership of a terrorist named Rebiya Kadeer with links to the East Turkestan terrorist group.
I have confronted many Uighur's with my knowledge of Islam in China, and also how I was treated as a Muslim when visiting China.
They did not know I was a Muslim and tried to lie to me about the true situation.
If anyone wants more information I am glad to share it.
As a Muslim I feel obligated to tell the truth, although Muslims are abused in many countries, I do not think China is one of them. The media wants a reaction from Muslims and to destroy the long-standing relationship of Islam and China.
I am very sad that Uighur's attacked the Han's first, this is haram according to the Qur'an, and I am also sad that a group of Han's sought revenge and attacked some Uighur's.
Insha'Allah I hope the relationship between Islam and China will not be damaged, they do treat Muslims well in China and much better than in the west.
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