Pakistan
Riots in Urumqi, Xinjiang, kill 129
URUMQI: The violence in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has left 129 people dead and injured 816 others, the regional public security department said Monday.
Police have arrested several hundred participants, including more than ten key figures who fanned the unrest on Sunday, the Xinjiang Public Security Department said.
Police are still searching for about 90 other key figures in the city, it added.
Source: China Daily
The normally bustling mosques of China’s Urumqi city were ordered shut on the main Muslim day of prayer today with police out in force to prevent new outbreaks of deadly ethnic unrest.
Uighur Muslims said they had been directed to pray at home, as armed forces saturated the streets of the northwest Xinjiang region’s capital five days after clashes that authorities said left 156 people dead.
“The government said there would be no Friday prayers,” said a Uighur man named Tursun outside the Hantagri mosque, one of the oldest in the capital, as about 100 policemen carrying machine guns and batons stood guard nearby.
“There’s nothing we can do… the government is afraid that people will use religion to support the three forces.”
The “three forces”‘ is a Chinese government term referring to extremism, separatism and terrorism, forces it says are trying to split the remote Xinjiang region from the rest of the country.
Xinjiang’s eight million Uighurs have long complained about religious, political and economic repression under Chinese rule, and this deep-set anger spilled out on Sunday in protests that quickly turned violent.
The Chinese government said 156 people were killed and more than 1,000 others were injured, as Uighur Muslims attacked people from China’s dominant Han ethnic group.
But Uighur exiles have said security forces over-reacted to peaceful protests. They said up to 800 people may have died in the unrest.
Many security forces remained in place today, and the traditional Muslim day of prayer passed with many Uighurs and other Muslims such as from the Hui ethnic group unable to attend mosques. “Go home to pray,” said handwritten notices on the front gates of five shuttered mosques visited yesterday.
When asked if all mosques in Urumqi were closed today, a spokesman for the Xinjiang regional government said that “all religious activities should go on normally,” without elaborating.
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This is an unfortunate accident happening in Urumqi, which if not controlled could spread to the western border districts neighbouring Gilgit-Baltistan. Our economy and employment is now dependent on KKH and trade with China, if this border is closed the people of GB will suffer the most.
As a regular visitor to Xinjiang for one decade many of us saw great economic and social development happening in this natural and culturally rich and diverse region of China. Thanks to Chinese government policies and private investments by business interests from mainland China and Hongkok.
There is a lot for us to learn from and share with the Chinese in this region. While we should take steps to counter the ‘ three forces’ of extremism, terrorism and separatism on both sides of the border, it is also important to create hope, a sense of local ownership and respect for local cultures and environment and protect and promote the rights of the local people while furthuring the economic development and regional integration agenda on both sides of this sensitive border.
Lets nurture and strengthen the three forces of ‘Peace, Pluralism and Prosperity'(3Ps) in this region. In order to pursue this 3P strategy, both Pakistan and China need to work together and take Gilgit-Baltistan and Xinjiang as one region.
Amin Beg
Heavily armed security forces were out in force in Urumqi yesterday close to where police shot dead two Muslim Uygurs who state media said were calling for jihad.
Large groups of police armed with semi-automatic weapons and batons were deployed close to the scene of yesterday’s violence, where authorities said police shot and killed two Uygur lawbreakers and wounded another.
Meanwhile, an Algeria-based al-Qaeda affiliate was calling for reprisals against Chinese workers in northern Africa, according to an intelligence report by a London-based risk analysis firm.
It is the first time Osama bin Laden’s network has directly threatened China or its interests, it noted.
Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China would take all precautions to protect its overseas interests, while not commenting directly on the alleged al-Qaeda threat.
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