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Muslim groups denounce inclusion
on China's list of "terrorist" groups
Mon Dec 15,11:26 PM ET
BEIJING, (AFP) - Two groups listed by China as "terrorist"
organisations have denounced the move as a politically
motivated act unfairly targeting Muslims who want
freedom.
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AFP/File Photo
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"Terrorism and requesting
political freedom are two different matters. We
don't spread terrorism. We advocate political
freedom," Dilxat Raxit, who represents the East
Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) and World
Uighur Youth Congress (WUYC), told AFP.
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The groups were among four
included on China's first ever list of terrorist
organisations, along with 11 Uighur Muslims living
abroad whom it identified Monday as separatists trying
to create an independent Islamic state called East
Turkistan in Xinjiang.
Raxit said China was capitalizing on the global
anti-terrorism campaign to crack down on ethnic Uighur
separatists and other dissidents in its northwestern
Xinjiang region.
"We have the right to express our political views.
Look at Canada's Quebec. They have people calling for
independence, but the government there doesn't call
them terrorists," he said.
Some of the groups are headquartered in Turkey and
Germany and have chapters in Europe, Asia and the
United States and China called for international
assistance to hunt them down and wipe them out.
Raxit said all four groups wish to see an independent
state of East Turkistan and the "liberation" of
Uighurs.
While he cannot speak for two of the groups he does
not belong to, he said the two groups he does belong
to do not participate in terrorist or violent
activities.
"I can say that since I joined WUYC and ETIC in 2001,
I don't see any such activities, but as to what they
did before I join, I cannot say," Raxit said.
"These two organizations are both legally registered
in Germany and their activities are all within the
laws of Germany."
The other two groups identified are the Eastern
Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and the Eastern
Turkistan Liberation Organization (ETLO).
They were not immediately available for comment.
China claims the groups have long plotted or carried
out bombings, assassinations and other violence in
Xinjiang, elsewhere in China or in neighboring Central
Asian countries.
But Raxit questioned why Beijing had never before
publicized concerns on at least two of the groups and
accused China of applying a double standard.
"Every ethnic group has criminals. Hans (the majority
Chinese) often mistreat Uighurs. Sometimes there are
confrontations which are hard to avoid. But you can't
say they are terrorists," Raxit said.
"The Chinese government can't consider all opposition
as terrorists. If they do, then why don't they
consider Tibetan separatists and Falungong members
terrorists, why consider us? It's because our religion
is different from Chinese people's."
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