Produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center No: 28 11 March 1997 In this issue: (1) UYGHUR DEMONSTRATORS IN GHULJE DEMANDED RELEASE OF THE ARRESTED RELATIVES
(2) CHINA VOWS TO SMASH PLOTS AGAINST ETHNIC UNITY
(3) "PUBLIC SECURITY AUTHORITIES PUT ON WANTED LIST TWO MALES, ONE FEMALE SUSPECTED OF PLANTING BOMBS, EXILE GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR BOMB BLASTS"
(4) ZHONGNANHAI HOLDS EMERGENCY MEETING TO DISCUSS XIDAN BLAST
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= (1) UYGHUR DEMONSTRATORS IN GHULJE DEMANDED RELEASE OF THE ARRESTED RELATIVES
On February 5, Uighurs staged demonstrations on the city square of Ghulje (Yining) demanding release of their relatives captured by the Chinese police during mass arrests on February 1-4. To disperse the demonstrators, the Chinese police and military used high pressure water and tear gas. Witnesses say that many people were beat to death and about 500 people were arrested. Next day, the Chinese soldiers used machine guns both from air and ground killing many demonstrators. By some reports, the death toll reached hundreds; much more people were wounded, and about one thousand Uyghurs were imprisoned. The first victim killed by the Chinese bullet was Fatima, an 8 years old Uighur girl who came to demand release of her father. Another victim was Gulzira, a pregnant woman who came for her husband. Yakup Haji from Juliza, a district located 15 miles from Ghulje, lost 6 members of his family. The Ghulje mayor Polat had no authority over the situation. The Chinese government quickly redeployed from Gansu province to Ghulje 30,000 of the combat army corps called "Jun". Including the regional military district forces, police, and the national guard, this made the ratio of 4 armed soldiers per one Uighur civilian. The Bintuan formations were put on high alert, and they were distributed weapons. The Uighurs serving in the Chinese army and police were unarmed. China informed the president of Kazakstan Nursultan Nazarbayev about the mass military movement in the area which is located 70 kilometers from the Kazakstan's border. The curfew is still imposed in the city after 4 pm. The soldiers are given the order to shoot without warning. About 80 armored vehicles with loud alarm signals patrol the city 24 hours a day. Beijing worries that funerals of killed could cause more unrests and riots. Many families in Ghulje have 1 to 3 family members jailed. In the prison, the arrested are heavily beaten each day and starved. The central government's classified document number 175 ordered the local authorities to follow "Three No Policy": "No asking, no telling, no visiting". It is not allowed to ask questions, talk to outsiders about the events in Ghulje, and visit jailed relatives. After the recent bus bombings in the regional capital Urumchi, about 5-10 Chinese soldiers are guarding many bus stops in the city watching for the suspicious Uyghurs. Some people are afraid of possible war in East Turkistan and began to prepare food and medicine reserves. Sources: Parhat Niyaz who escaped from Ghulje massacre, and he is now seeking political asylum in the USA; Mr. Zhen, a Taiwanese jewelry businessman who recently came from China and has a close friend in the National Police Bureau in Beijing. Prepared for WUNN by Sokrat Saydahmat. (2) CHINA VOWS TO SMASH PLOTS AGAINST ETHNIC UNITY
BEIJING - China has vowed to smash plots aimed at disrupting stability in Xinjiang after a spate of bomb attacks that shook the far western region last month. Illegal religious groups and ethnic separatists were the main forces working to undermine social stability in the mostly Muslim region, said a commentary in the Xinjiang Daily seen in Beijing Tuesday. "We must maintain a high degree of vigilance for that very small number of bad people who endanger the security of the state and the public, jeopardize social stability and engage in violent terrorist activities," the commentary said in the official newspaper's March 5 edition. "Just let them show their heads and we will ... foil their plots and strike at their puffed-up arrogance," it said. The prominent front-page commentary followed a series of bomb attacks that killed nine and wounded 74 in the restive region last week. Three bombs planted on buses blew up within minutes of each other in the regional capital Urumqi on Feb. 25 in an attack apparently coordinated to coincide with funeral rites in Beijing for paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Another bomb blew up a bus in Beijing last week during rush hour, killing at least two people and injuring 30, but Chinese officials said Monday there was no evidence linking the deadly blast with the Urumqi attacks. The newspaper made no mention of any bombings but quoted a senior central government official from Xinjiang as saying authorities would win the battle against those who sought to destroy national unity. "We have resolute faith in our victory over ethnic splittist activities," the newspaper quoted Ismail Amat, Minister of the State Nationalities Affairs Commission, as saying. "There is no opportunity for splittist activities, which go against the tide of history and the wishes of peoples of all ethnic groups," Amat said. "Failure is inevitable." The Xinjiang Daily said last Wednesday an unspecified number of suspects were in custody for having made and planted the bombs, while others were thought to have sold detonators for the explosives. Exiled Uighur nationalists in the Central Asian state of Kazakhstan claimed responsibility last week for the bombings and said Chinese police had arrested at least 20 ethnic Uighurs in Urumqi and Yining near Xinjiang's border with Kazakhstan. Chinese officials declined to comment on the arrests in the Xinjiang bombings, saying only that authorities were investigating. "We are in the process of solving it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Cui Tiankai told a regular news briefing Tuesday. Muslim separatists want to set up an independent "East Turkestan" in Xinjiang, home to many Turkic-speaking people, including those of the Uighur ethnic minority. In early February, an anti-Chinese riot erupted in Yining in Xinjiang. Chinese officials said nine people were killed in the riot -- one of the largest, most violent demonstrations for independence in Xinjiang since the 1949 communist takeover. (3) "PUBLIC SECURITY AUTHORITIES PUT ON WANTED LIST TWO MALES, ONE FEMALE SUSPECTED OF PLANTING BOMBS, EXILE GROUP CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR BOMB BLASTS"
(The following is provided to WUNN by Bill Mitchell) The Beijing public security authorities yesterday issued an internal wanted circular for two Xinjiang males and one Xinjiang female for setting off an explosion in Xidan and set up a special team to hunt for them. Anexile Xinjiang dissident group issued a statement, claiming responsibility for a series of explosions. This is one of the offensive moves aimed at retaliating against armed suppression of the Xinjiang Muslim "independent movement" by the Chinese Government. Meanwhile, the Chinese public security authorities conceded yesterday that apart from the bus bomb blast near the Xidan Bazaar, another bomb blast occurred at the busy intersection of Dongda Bridge last Thursday, but nobody was injured. [passage omitted on dissident group claiming responsibility for the blasts, covered in referent item] The Beijing public security authorities indicated that to prevent other similar attacks, the authorities had ordered stepped-up security measures, but the government did not denounce any persons or organizations. The authorities, however, suspected that the bomb blasts were carried out by Muslim separatists in Xinjiang. Moreover, the authorities also advised Beijing taxi drivers against picking up lone Xinjiang Uygur males carrying suspicious parcels and travelling alone. A local taxi driver said that public security personnel called them to a special meeting last Saturday, telling them and the taxi companies concerned to pay attention to the matter cited above. Local shop assistants were also told to take precautions against further possible attacks by separatists. (4) ZHONGNANHAI HOLDS EMERGENCY MEETING TO DISCUSS XIDAN BLAST
By reporter Kuang Tung-chou . "Zhongnanhai Holds Emergency Meeting To Discuss Explosion Case, Mayor Says It Was a Political Incident in Retaliation Against Society" According to a Beijing source, at an emergency working meeting held in Zhongnanhai yesterday morning (8 March), Beijing Mayor Jia Qinglin pledged to Premier Li Peng that the police possessed many clues about the explosion the night before last and felt confident they would be able to crack the case in a short time. The clues that have been collected so far show that it was very likely carried out by Xinjiang separatists. Moreover, Beijing Mayor Jia Qinglin pointed out yesterday that the bus bomb that occurred in the city the night before last was a political incident in retaliation against society, and that the police were concentrating forces to crack the case. Jia said: Beijing has mustered massive police forces and adopted strict precautions to ensure that no similar unfortunate accident will happen again. He also noted: The central authorities are highly concerned about the incident. Employing the Tactic of Luring the Tiger Out of the Mountains Moreover, according to news from the Beijing police, the police received a telephone call the day before yesterday claiming there would an explosion at Longfu Building in Dongcheng District at seven o'clock that evening. On receiving the message, police immediately evacuated shoppers in the building, but a big explosion occurred in Xidan at that time. This shows that the criminals adopted the tactic of luring the tiger out of the mountains. The news from the police also disclosed that in the wake of a small car blast in Chaoyang District, a suspect was immediately arrested by police. Preliminary investigation shows that he is member of a criminal gang from Xinjiang whose aim is to deliberately create chaos in Beijing during the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference sessions. After the explosion the night before last, several dozen wounded people were sent to the nearby city first-aid center, Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing University Hospital, and the General Hospital of the Posts and Telecommunication Ministry for emergency treatment. After diagnosis, 11 were hospitalized. Qiang Wei, secretary in charge of politics and law in Beijing Municipality, visited the wounded in the hospitals last night. Yesterday the police detained at Longfu Building two foreign journalists going there to learn about the situation and kept them under investigation for more than one hour. Police also detained last night a number of Hong Kong journalists who went to Jishuitan Hospital to interview the wounded. Prepared by: Abdulrakhim Aitbayev (rakhim@lochbrandy.mines.edu) *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= The World Uyghur Network News electronic newsletter is produced by the Eastern Turkistan Information Center (ETIC) in cooperation with the Taklamakan Uighur Human Rights Association (USA), and is devoted to the current political, cultural and economic developments in Eastern Turkistan and to the Uyghur people related issues. Eastern Turkistan (Sherqiy Turkistan in Uyghur) is a name used by the indigenous people of the region for their motherland located in what is at present the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic China. The World Uyghur Network News brings information on situation in Eastern Turkistan from the Uyghur and other sources to the attention of the international community. *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= EASTERN TURKISTAN INFORMATION CENTER |