China on Wednesday accused terrorists in a Muslim Uighur region of
attacking civilians, but an exiled Uighur group said the violence that
killed at least 12 people mainly targeted armed Chinese personnel. The bloodshed late Tuesday in the restive northwestern region of
Xinjiang came at a sensitive time, ahead of next week's opening of
China's national legislature, when authorities tighten security
nationwide to prevent anything that would mar the annual session. Officials and state media said the bloodshed started when assailants
attacked civilians with knives on a commercial street in Yecheng city,
killing 10 people; police fatally shot two of the attackers, the
official accounts said. Think you know China? take our quiz
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei called the attackers
"terrorists" and said they attacked innocent civilians, "cruelly killing
several of them in an appalling manner."
However, Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the German-based World Uyghur
Congress, said that the violence in Yecheng — called Kargilik by Uighurs
— erupted because local residents "could no longer bear China's
systematic repression," and have been denied outlets for peaceful
protest.
He said local Uighurs told him seven armed Chinese security personnel
were killed and that three people were shot to death. He said two more
people were killed but did not provide any detail of those deaths. He
said 10 people were injured, including two seriously hurt, and that
police have detained 84 people. Police have sealed off the area, he
said.
The government has failed to win over Uighurs and other ethnic
minorities through policies to boost economic growth and incomes as it
increases police presence and controls religious practices to deter
displays of separatism. China's ethnic Tibetan regions have also been
unsettled in recent months by scattered demonstrations and clashes with
authorities, as well as self-immolations in protest against the
government's policies.
"At present, Xinjiang is on the path of a leap-forward development,"
Hong, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, told reporters in Beijing. "We
firmly oppose a handful of terrorists and separatists in sabotaging the
peaceful development, good order, and unity.
A Communist Party official in Yecheng county, who declined to give his
name, said that aside from the two assailants shot on the spot, all the
remaining attackers were later captured by police. He refused to answer
further questions. Calls to police offices in Yecheng went unanswered.
Censors blocked postings about the attack on microblogs. Searches on
Sina Corporation's popular Weibo service returned the message: "In
accordance with relevant laws, regulations and policies, 'Xinjiang
Yecheng' search results were not shown."
Sporadic attacks occur in Xinjiang — a region of oil and gas deposits,
vast deserts, and towering mountains that abuts Central Asia — despite a
smothering security presence imposed following 2009 riots in the
regional capital of Urumqi in which almost 200 people died. The riots
pitted Uighurs against migrants from China's majority Han.
Much of the violence has been centered in Yecheng and other oasis
cities in southern Xinjiang, a heartland of Uighur culture. A group of
Uighurs stormed a police station in the city of Hotan to the east of
Yecheng on July 18 and took hostages, killing four. On July 30 and 31,
Uighurs in Kashgar to the west hijacked a truck, set a restaurant on
fire and stabbed people in the street. Authorities said 14 of the
attackers were shot by police in Hotan, and five assailants were killed
in the violence in Kashgar.
China says those events were organized terror attacks, but overseas
Uighur groups say they were anti-government riots carried out by angry
citizens. Uighur (pronounced WEE'-gur) activists and security analysts
blame the violence on economic marginalization and restrictions on
Uighur culture and the Muslim religion that are breeding frustration and
anger among young Uighurs.
Chinese authorities have offered little evidence to back up their
claims of outside involvement and rarely provide details on arrests or
punishment of the suspects. Tight information controls and the
remoteness of the area, more than 2,175 miles (3,500 kilometers) west of
Beijing, ensure that the circumstances surrounding such incidents often
remain murky.
The government has periodically closed unregistered Islamic schools and
study sessions, seeing them as a wellspring for radical separatism. The
World Uyghur Congress has said that authorities in Xinjiang's Aksu
region in recent weeks confiscated hundreds of tracts and videos and
detained more than 100 people.
No comments:
Post a Comment