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China says
terrorists from Xinjiang hiding in Pakistan
By Wajahat Ali
URUMQI: Some terrorists from the Chinese province of
Xinjiang are hiding in Lahore and Rawalpindi, Chinese
Deputy Director of Public Security Ma Mingyue said
here on Friday. Talking to a group of visiting
journalists from Pakistan, Mr Mingyue claimed that
members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM)
have mixed up with the Chinese community in the two
Pakistani cities.
Asked how these terrorists operated, Mr Mingyue said
they were simply being a “bad influence” on people
visiting Pakistan from Xinjiang.
“The terrorist organisation itself is not based in
Pakistan,” he explained. “But some of its members are
present in these two cities.” The ETIM is one of the
more extreme groups founded by Uighurs, the
Turkic-speaking ethnic majority in Xinjiang, seeking
an independent state called East Turkestan.
The organisation is also suspected of being an Al
Qaeda affiliate. It was labelled a terrorist
organisation by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage on August 26, 2002.
Mr Mingyue quoted the example of Hassan Mahsun to
substantiate his claim. Mahsun, accused by the Chinese
government of bombing a building in Kashgar on June
17, 1996, allegedly escaped to Pakistan using a fake
passport and stayed there with the people of Xinjiang
before being introduced to Osama Bin Laden.
He decided to move to Afghanistan where he remained in
a terrorist training camp. Later, he was “bumped off
by the Pakistani police”. When asked if the government
of China had communicated with the Pakistani
authorities about these people, Mr Mingyue said, “The
law enforcement agencies are striving to trace these
people in Pakistan”. It may be recalled that some
Chinese technicians were recently targetted by
terrorists at Gawadar. It is not clear as yet who
carried out the attack.
Meanwhile, the United States has blamed China for
using the “war on terror” as a pretext to suppress
political dissent in Xinjiang. Some US newspapers
claim that China has beefed up military security in
the region, detaining several suspected militants.
Some human rights groups have also voiced concern
about these developments, pointing out that the US
characterisation of the ETIM as a terrorist group has
given the Chinese a free hand to repress Uighurs.
However, the Chinese claim the seperatists have
“conceptual affinity” with Al Qaeda. “They want to
establish a Caliphate by splitting Xinjiang from the
motherland [China].”
The provincial authorities also claim that the
separatists have killed 162 people between 1992 and
2001. The Xinjiang Uygar Autonomous Region (called
Xinjiang for short) is located in the northwest of
China and the hinterland of the Eurasian Continent. It
is China’s largest province that borders on eight
countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
Its provincial administration allows freedom of
religious belief, a concept that is also enshrined in
the constitution of the country.
Daily Times
41-N, Industrial Area
Gulberg II, Lahore
Pakistan
Phone: 92-42-5878614-19
Fax: 92-42-5878620
editorial@dailytimes.com.pk
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