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UAA Press Release on Shooting Death of Uyghur
Businessmen in Kyrgyzstan
For Immediate Release:
Monday, March 31, 2003
Contact Info:
Kaiser Siyit,
Director of Communications
Phone: 202-423-8803
The Uyghur American Association (UAA) is very
concerned with the recent shooting death and looting
of Uyghur businessmen in Kyrgyzstan while they were on
their way to Kashgar.
According to Kyrgyz officials, the 21 victims, mostly
ethnic Uyghur businessmen from East Turkestan,
appeared to have been shot and killed before their bus
was engulfed in flames. The burned-out double-decker
bus belonging to Kashgar Transportation Company was
found in the mountains about 263 kilometers (150 miles)
southeast of the capital Bishkek on Thursday.
Kyrgyz authorities have ruled out terrorism, and point
to robbery as the likely motive.
In recent years, the looting and shooting of Uyghur
businessmen in Kyrgyzstan has been rampant since they
don’t have any kind of legal protection for their life
and property. Both Kyrgyz and Chinese authorities have
proven to be of little help whenever the Uyghur
business community faces major problems in Kyrgyzstan.
When the Tour-bazaar, one of the biggest wholesale
markets run by the Uyghur businessmen in Bishkek, was
on fire on February 12, 2002 and resulted nearly US
$100 million in financial loss, both Kyrgyz and
Chinese authorities remained indifferent.
In many looting and shooting of Uyghur cases, the
Kyrgyz authorities didn’t bother to find the
perpetuators, allowing the criminals to remain at
large and with impunity. This kind of attitude from
the Kyrgyz government has given an impression to the
local gangs that it is OK to rob and kill Uyghur
businessmen since neither Kyrgyzstan nor China is
serious about bringing robbers and murderers to
justice for their crimes. The looting and shooting
death of 21 individuals is only one of the extremist
examples of this lukewarm attitude by the authorities.
If the Kyrgyz and Chinese authorities were as serious
to the robbing and killing of Uyghur businessmen in
the past as this time, the perpetuators of Thursday’s
killing would have not dared to commit such a
horrendous crime against them. This tragedy would not
have happened. Lawlessness only creates instability
and anarchy in any country. And the protection of
Uyghur businessmen and their properties is in the best
interests of both Kyrgyzstan and China.
The Uyghur American Association welcomes the immediate
measure taken by both the Kyrgyz and Chinese
authorities in verifying the identities of the dead
businessmen and in finding the criminals who committed
this vicious crime. UAA urges both Kyrgyz and Chinese
authorities to cooperate in hunting down the criminals
and protect the Uyghur business community in
Kyrgyzstan, and other Central Asian states. The
perpetuators of this tragedy have to be brought to
justice and severely punished according to law. The
families of the victims have to be compensated by both
governments for the loss of their family members and
money.
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