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 Ethnic
tension rising in southern Xinjiang, says official
BEIJING, Aug 2 (AFP) - Ethnic and religious tensions
are flaring up again in a Muslim-majority district in
northwest China's Xinjiang region with authorities
using methods not seen for years to suppress illegal
activities, a local official told AFP Monday.
"Eight people should already have have been charged
with 'endangering state security' last week and a
public meeting will be held as soon as the court gives
its order, perhaps this week," said the Chinese
communist party secretary from the Hotan district
religious affairs bureau who only gave his name as
Zhao.
"Such public meetings were last held in 1998 and 1999.
In recent years, the situation had been relatively
stable but lately there seems to be a resurgence" of
separatist and illegal religious activity, the
official said from Hotan in southern Xinjiang.
"The meeting will be filmed by local television
stations in order the educate the masses," he said.
Uighurs make up the predominant majority of the
population in southern Xinjiang while more Han Chinese
live in the north, which is better developed.
In recent days 75 people, including 27 children, have
been arrested in Hotan district on charges of engaging
in "illegal religious activities," according to the
East Turkestan Information Centre (ETIC) based in
Germany.
The Hotan official refused to confirm the figure but
said, "many others have been arrested for different
offences but the police have not given us the details."
An official with Hotan's public security bureau (police)
declined any response, saying, "there is no need to
ask such questions." Amnesty International said last
month that China was using the global war on terror to
justify repression of its Uighur community who face
torture and execution when forcibly returned from
neighbouring countries.
"China has repackaged its repression of Uighurs as a
fight against 'terrorism'," the London-based human
rights organisation said in the report.
"Since the 11 September 2001 attacks on the USA, the
Chinese government has been using 'anti-terrorism' as
a pretext to increase its crackdown on all forms of
political or religious dissent in the region."
China-Xinjiang-separatism
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