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Hong Kong, Midland China threatened
with terrorist attacks: China seeks Pakistan’s help in
investigation
By Maqbool Ahmed
KARACHI: The Chinese government has requested the
government of Pakistan to investigate and share
information on a recent threat of terrorist attacks on
tourist spots in Chinese-administrated Hong Kong and
Midland China, well placed sources in the ministry of
foreign affairs in Islamabad apprised Daily Times on
Monday.
In an official request through its embassy in
Islamabad, the Chinese government said that it had
information that an Islamist terrorism network in
China was planning coordinated attacks on hotels and
other tourist spots in Hong Kong and Midland China
with the help and backing of some US financiers.
The request, sources said, detailed the name of a
person who was allegedly planning and coordinating the
attacks.
The request was received on October 31 by the Chinese
Consulate in Karachi in the form of a fax message
naming a man suspected of planning the attacks in a
“few days”. The fax message did not, however, mention
how the attack could take place but stated that there
was a fear that it might be in the form of bombings at
hotels and tourists resorts.
While the Chinese government had requested an exchange
of investigative information, ministry sources said it
did not say whether the suspect was a Pakistani or
could be present in Pakistan. “But, our Chinese
friends have requested strict vigilance at our
international airports and entry and exit points,”
sources added.
Quoting the request, ministry sources said that the
Chinese government had indicated that it had put on
high alert its international airports, seaport and
land entry and exit points after the fax message was
received on October 31.
In the backdrop of this communication, just a day
before the Chinese government’s fax was received in
Islamabad, on September 30, a group named the World
Uighur Congress issued a strong anti-China statement
that was also posted on the website ‘Islam Online’.
The statement came on the eve of the 50th anniversary
of the Communist Party’s rule over Xinjiang, which was
previously an independent nation known as East
Turkestan. This is a remote region that Muslim Uighur
militants, dubbed terrorists or separatists by
Beijing, have been struggling for decades to make
independent. Xinjiang was formally established on
October 1, 1995.
The World Uighur Congress statement said that:
“China’s crushing campaign of religious oppression and
cultural assimilation against its Muslim Uighur
minority, in the name of terror-combat and
anti-separatism, risks turn[ing] the region into a
‘time bomb’”.
The Uighurs are a Turkish-speaking minority of eight
million whose traditional homeland lies in the
Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in north-west China.
Xinjiang has been autonomous since 1955 and is viewed
by Beijing as an invaluable asset because of its
crucial strategic location near Central Asia and its
large oil and gas reserves
Daily Times
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