An electronic newsletter Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 40 14 May 1997 In this issue: (1) FILMING FINISHED OF 12-PART DOCUMENTARY ON XINJIANG
(2) BEIJING BLAST CAUSED BY 'LONE SUICIDE USING EXPLOSIVES'
(3) XINJIANG LEADER PROFILES MUSLIM GROUP FIGHTING FOR SEPARATE STATE
(4) XINJIANG LEADER ADMITS EXISTENCE OF MUSLIM PARTY
(5) FURTHER ON XINJIANG LEADER'S REMARKS ON MUSLIM PARTY
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (1) FILMING FINISHED OF 12-PART DOCUMENTARY ON XINJIANG
Urumqi, May 14 (XINHUA) -- China has finished filming of a 12-part TV documentary on the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the country's northwest. The series, called "Impressions of Xinjiang", depicts the lives and feelings of the local people. It also describes the understanding of the rest of the world by people in that region. The documentary will inspire people of patriotic feelings and help them understand the great changes taken place in the region since it began reforms and opening-up 18 years ago, one film maker notes. The TV series was produced with the help of nearly 30 Xinjiang-born film makers organized by the Urumqi TV Artists Organization. It took them 27 months by travelling more than 20,000 km to the north and the south of the Tianshan Mountains to complete the TV documentary. (2) BEIJING BLAST CAUSED BY 'LONE SUICIDE USING EXPLOSIVES'
Beijing, May 13 (AFP) -- An explosion jolted a park next to Beijing's Forbidden City on Tuesday afternoon, sending shivers through the Chinese capital following a series of suspected terrorist bombings in March. According to local residents near Zhongshan Park, which borders the southwest wall of the Forbidden City, the blast was caused by a lone suicide using explosives. There were no official reports of any casualties. The park entrance was blocked by uniformed police and ambulances were seen driving into the park. "Some people were injured," a gatekeeper said. "We heard a loud explosion from the park before 5:00 P.M.(0900 GMT)," said one local resident. A duty officer with the Public Security Bureau section responsible for the park would only say that "an incident took place," but refused to give any details. Plainclothes police, wearing plastic gloves, could be seen inside the park, searching the lawn and placing material into plastic bags. One staff member of a restaurant inside the park confirmed the explosion, but said she had been told not to answer questions from journalists. Access roads on the west and east sides of the park were initially blocked off by police, who lifted their checkpoints at 7:00 P.M. (1100 GMT). On March 7, a bus bomb went off in Beijing, which has experienced little terrorism. Muslim separatists from the northwestern region of Xinjiang were suspected, but never officially blamed. Witnesses said three people died in the bus blast, although the official version spoke only of a dozen wounded. Laid-off workers were suspected of planting a further two bombs in the capital later the same month -- one of which exploded, slightly injuring one person. (3) XINJIANG LEADER PROFILES MUSLIM GROUP FIGHTING FOR SEPARATE STATE
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Urumqi. The government chief of Xinjiang admitted yesterday that a fundamentalist Muslim party in the troubled northwestern region was fighting for independence from China. Abdulahat Abdurixit, the region's chairman, also revealed the trial of those suspected of carrying out the Urumqi bus bombings in February, which killed nine people and injured 74, had begun. "The Party of Allah is a small fundamentalist organization that takes part in illegal religious activities to divide China," Mr Abdurixit said. He said the party was formed last year by people from all over Xinjiang. "However, we have put them out of a position to cause damage before they have even started to act." Asked about the size of the fundamentalist movement, Mr Abdurixit said it included "less than one in 10,000 of Xinjiang's 16 million residents", indicating about 1,600 anti-Chinese militants. He said such groups "would never be able to turn themselves into an important force, and the Government can control them easily". Mr Abdurixit said all those implicated in the Urumqi bus bombings had been arrested and their trials were under way. Those arrested numbered around 10 and were all young Uygurs who had been previously involved in terrorist acts, he said. "To date, there is no indication that they received foreign support." Clashes between Chinese security forces and Uygur separatists on February 5 and 6 in the border town of Yining were sparked "by illegal demonstrations". "These very violent demonstrators cried out for an Islamic kingdom," he said. The clashes left between 10 and 100 people dead. At least three people were executed for their role in the uprising. However, Mr Abdurixit said Xinjiang separatist groups were not behind a bomb attack on a Beijing bus on March 7 which, witnesses said, killed three people. "There is no proof so far that the attack in Beijing had anything to do with people from Xinjiang," he said. (4) XINJIANG LEADER ADMITS EXISTENCE OF MUSLIM PARTY
Urumqi, China, May 11 (AFP) -- The government chief in troubled Xinjiang admitted Sunday that a fundamentalist Muslim party was fighting for independence from China. Abdulahat Abdurixit, chairman of the government of the autonomous region hit by a series of bomb attacks and other unrest, said "the Party of Allah is a small fundamentalist organization that takes part in illegal religious activities to divide China." He told visiting foreign journalists in the regional capital, Urumqi, that the party was formed last year by people from all over the region which was why it could operate everywhere. "However we have put them out of a position to cause damage before they have even started to act," said Abdurixit. (5) FURTHER ON XINJIANG LEADER'S REMARKS ON MUSLIM PARTY
Urumqi, China, May 11 (AFP) -- The government chief of Xinjiang admitted here Sunday that a fundamentalist Muslim party in the troubled northwestern region was fighting for independence from China. Abdulahat Abdurixit, the region's chairman, also revealed that the trial of those responsible for Urumqi bus bombings at the end of February that killed nine and injured 74 "had begun." "The Party of Allah is a small fundamentalist organization that takes part in illegal religious activities to divide China," said the top official in the Muslim- majority region, which has been hit by a series of bomb attacks and other separatist unrest in recent months. The statement, made to journalists in this regional capital, was the first official acknowledgment of an organised separatist movement. China fiercely suppresses groups resisting its rule in ethnic-minority-dominated border areas like Xinjiang and Tibet and normally keeps a tight lid on information about their activities or existence. Abdurixit said the party was formed last year by people from all over Xinjiang, which was why it could carry out operations in any part of the vast region. "However we have put them out of a position to cause damage before they have even started to act," he said, without elaborating. Asked about the size of the fundamentalist movement, the governor said it included "less than one in 10,000 of Xinjiang's 16 million residents" -- indicating around 1,600 anti-Chinese militants. Such groups "would never be able to turn themselves into an important force, and the government can control them easily," said the leader, a member of the Uighur ethnic group that dominates Xinjiang. Abdurixit announced that "all those implicated" in the Urumqi bus bombings had been arrested and that their trials "had begun." Those arrested in connection with the attacks numbered "around 10" and were all Young Uighurs, he said, adding they came from the northern and southern parts of the region. All were previously involved in "terrorist acts," he said. "To date, there is no indication that they received foreign support," the governor said. Muslim separatists from Xinjiang have been known to seek exile in neighbouring former Soviet republics -- Kazakhstan in particular -- which are also home to growing fundamentalist movements. China has repeatedly warned foreign countries against harbouring or supporting "terrorists" from the region. Abdurixit said that clashes between Chinese security forces and Uighur separatists on February 5 and 6 in the border town of Yining were sparked "by illegal demonstrations." "These very violent demonstrators cried out for an Islamic kingdom," the governor said. The clashes left 10 to 100 people killed, according to reports, and at least three others were executed for their role in the uprising. The indigenous population of Xinjiang has resisted Chinese rule for centuries, but the arrival of Han-majority settlers in large numbers since China re-took control of the region in 1950 has exacerbated tensions. A short-lived independent state called East Turkestan had been established in the region during the chaos of China's civil war. Authorities have suppressed separatist activities under cover of a series of "anti-crime" campaigns in recent years, as well as by cracking down on the practice of religion -- seen in Beijing as a force behind pro-independence sentiment. Prepared by: Abdulrakhim Aitbayev (rakhim@lochbrandy.mines.edu) WUNN newsletter index*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= The World Uyghur Network News electronic newsletter is produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) in cooperation with the Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association (USA), and is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghur people related issues. Eastern Turkistan (Sherqiy Turkistan in Uyghur) is a name used by the indigenous people of the region for their motherland located in what is at present the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic China. The World Uyghur Network News brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER |