Dancing is forbidden in Islam and so is eating during the holy month of Ramzan(Ramadan), but in China, the individual choice to profess religion is increasingly being trampled by the authoritative regime. The Chinese authorities tirade against religious minorities isn't new, in the 1950s, the Tibetan annexation and subsequent execution of unarmed Buddhist civilians by PLA in the name of unification of Tibet with China have laid the foundation for future transgress on minority rights which only increased with time. The silence of the world community towards the unleashing of violence by the Chinese government further emboldened China. The world became a mute spectator of Chinese excesses towards its civilians is it 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre where more than 10000 pro-democracy students were butchered by PLA or recent crackdown on civilian protest in Hongkong. The world leaders who shamelessly supported and bargained with China for economical benefits is equally accountable for the crimes committed by the Chinese government.
The current obsession of the Chinese regime to target the majority Uighur population in Xinjiang province which is largely Muslim (Turkic Uyghurs) and the methods employed to 'civilize' or 're-educate' only finds parallel with 'Gulags' or 'concentration camps' established by Soviets or Nazis. The 90% Han Chinese ethnic majority distrust the ethnic and religious minorities and the one-party rule ensures the ethnic cleansing or subjugation through violent means. China suspicious of the ethnic Muslim community has suppressed the language and faith of its Muslim citizens. These minorities were purged of their mother tongues, forced to eat pork and renounce outward displays of Islam. To make matters worse, unprecedented measures are taken by authorities to re-educate or civilize Muslims by establishing detention camps.
These camps were only recently acknowledged by Chinese which was earlier denied. It is difficult to put a number of people detained in these camps established in Xinjiang, but the State Department estimates it could be between 800,000 and 2 million Muslims that are detained since 2017. After initially denying the existence of the re-education camps, Beijing is now defending them as necessary to combat Islamist extremism and terrorism and termed them as re-education camps to civilize Muslims. Increasing assertive Han nationalism, 2009 riots in Xinjiang between Han ethnic majority and Uighur minorities and subsequent terrorist attacks by Uighurs on Chinese majority and importance of Xinjiang’s western location for launching President Xi Jinping's ambitious trillion-dollar Belt and Road global infrastructure project prompted the Chinese government to crack down on Muslim minority that inhabits the region.
China's aggressive territorial claims and disputes with all its neighboring countries, refusal to accept the judgment of an international tribunal in The Hague (favoring the Philippines) and continuous South Chinese Sea island grab and militarization gives testimony to its scant respect for rule of law. The Chinese insatiable hunger for land and resources is astonishingly condemnable. The world leaders on their part, till now were inclined to appease China for multiple reasons while American addiction to rile Russian attempts to establish its cold war era prestige gives opportunity and space to China to throttle voices at home or abroad without any criticism.
Mosques locked out by Chinese authorities
The massive human rights abuses carried out by the Chinese government against minorities finally received worldwide attention when the United Nations said it had credible evidence that over one million ethnic Uighur and other Muslims in China were being held against their will, and without trial in camps. What is strange and horribly upsetting is even when 22 European countries signed a letter recently to the United Nations Human Rights Council criticizing Chinese policies, there were 37 states, including Pakistan and other Muslim countries who came to the rescue of China and jointly signed a letter to the president of the Council praising China’s “contribution to the international human rights cause.” As long as the world doesn't unite and see beyond their selfish interests and raise their voice condemning the mistreatment of ethnic and religious minorities by China, and in this case, Uyghur Muslims, the Muhammad's and Bano's till then with have to continue to dance to Chinese tunes.
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