Effects of Communism on Uyghur Muslims

Megha writes, hunger for power by the Communist Party of China and the fear of any obstruction from any ethnic group has made them blind towards the violations on the Human Rights of the Uyghur Muslims.

Xinjiang is the western region of China which is occupied by the Uyghur Muslims who form the Turkic minority group. Their beliefs are being endangered through newly opened institutions like “re-education centres” for political and religious indoctrination but claim to be training sessions for the population. The migration of Han Chinese to this region from 1950-1970 makes them impose practices for Chinese cultural unity and support to the rule of Communist Party of China.

Some Uyghurs have been threatened into spying their families and community at the cost of the life of their relatives. They are to report about every action of the Uyghurs so if anyone practises their religious activities, they would be detained into these internment camps. Such camps are built to extract out all the differences that exist among the individuals of Uyghur community as that might turn into a threat for the political system if not demolished now.

Many Uyghurs have fled to different parts of the world, Turkey being one of the main destinations but Beijing is known to have innumerable informants around the world. Many Turkish nationals have been reported missing who were in China and their families suspect them to be admitted in those internment camps. These are one of the most traumatic incidents, yet the most neglected humanitarian crisis of the world today.

China depicts the Uyghur Muslims as a threat to security by calling them extremists and those internment camps places for de-extremification. The Xinjiang Autonomous Region had a history of conflict and discord with the Chinese authority and the Han Chinese which was kept under tight control and restrictions. The Republic of East Turkestan would have been an independent nation until China absorbed them into the communist China as the Xinjiang region for expansion of their territory and now absorbing them in terms of cultural and religious identity. In July 2014, the government banned Uighur Muslims from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan and crushing places of worship, the mosques.

China began as a Maoist nation under Mao, which was China’s interpretation of communism and followed ‘market socialism’ under Deng Xiaoping which was socialism with Chinese characteristics. Xi Jinping delivered at the 19^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that “We have actively developed socialist democracy and advanced law-based governance”. He has called China a socialist democracy where they do not let people exercise freedom of religion and cultural identity. China believes itself to be a socialist country with Chinese characteristics for a new era where it would do anything to prevent heterogeneity despite of all the pain it’s providing to its own people and still believed to have democratic characteristics.

The hunger for power by the Communist Party of China and the fear of any obstruction from any ethnic group has made them blind towards the violations on the Human Rights of the Uyghur Muslims. It’s a shameful progress if a society started with the motive to provide equal rights and benefits to its inhabitants but changes its ideologies to suit itself whenever a situation threatens the power.