Terrorism

Uyghur Scholar Accused of Separatism; 12 Killed in Xinjiang

Uighur protesters denouncing the violence in China's Xinjiang province that has left at least 156 people dead in 2009. Photo: AP/Francois Mori

Also on Friday, border guards in neighboring Kyrgyzstan said that a group of Uyghurs were killed after crossing the border and that their belongings indicated that they belonged to a separatist group. These are the latest in a series of violent incidents in Xinjiang, which authorities blame on separatist, or terrorist, groups, though few details are released about individuals involved or the events themselves, and journalists are not allowed to independently investigate.

China's Wild West The Problem With Beijing's Xinjiang Policy

Chinese military police ride past a Uighur woman on main street in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, July 2009. (Nir Elias / Courtesy Reuters)

Last October, a sport-utility vehicle sped onto a crowded Beijing sidewalk and exploded at the foot of Tiananmen gate, killing five people and injuring nearly 40 others. In the aftermath of the attack, the Chinese government declared the explosion an act of terrorism committed by Islamic jihadists from western China. Meanwhile, the foreign media turned the spotlight on the home province of the attackers -- China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region -- where some nine million Turkic-speaking Muslims, known as Uighurs, have lived under the control of the Chinese Communist Party since 1950. This arrangement has not been altogether peaceful; just this week, for example, local police gunned down six people in the city of Xinhe.

Understanding the Uighurs

Today, China's boom has seen those tensions with the country's 10 million Uighurs resurface. The Government says the movement contains Islamic extremists, citing last October's suicide attack in front of the iconic Chairman Mao portrait in Beijing.

Washington Defends Decision To Release Uyghurs

The United States has defended the sending of the last three Uyghur Chinese inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention center to Slovakia.

WUC alarmed by the killing of Uyghurs in Yarkant

“I am absolutely devastated by yesterday’s incident, which is yet another among countless recent incidents that proves the Chinese authorities’ total disregard for human life. This incident testifies to a recent trend of state-sponsored violence used to quell Uyghur dissent, whereby authorities ignore due process of the law, shoot and kill Uyghurs, label them terrorists, and then use counter-terrorism to justify the unlawful killings,” said WUC president and prominent Uyghur human rights activist, Mrs. Rebiya Kadeer.

THE UYGHUR ‘TERRORISTS’ OF XINJIANG

Beijing has alleged that the “East Turkistan Islamic Movement,” which purportedly has links with Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaida as well as many other Central and West Asian terrorist organisations is waging a “holy war with the aim of setting up a theocratic ‘Islamic state’ in Xinjiang.” While this allegation leveled against the Uyghur community is indeed damning, Beijing has unfortunately failed to provide even a shred of credible evidence to support its claim.

You are here