Imran Hosen
The Uyghur people have been subjugated by their own state in the Chinese province of Xinjiang for many years. Since 2014, this persecution has become worse, and more recent events pose a danger to the whole civilization. Muslim-majority nations turn a blind eye, and the COVID-19 pandemic and the present crisis in Europe have mostly consumed the attention of the world, leaving the Uyghur community to suffer in silence.
The Uyghurs are Turkic-speaking ethnic minority, mostly Muslims, with historical and cultural links to Central Asian nations. The Xinjiang area in northwest China is home to estimated 12 million Uyghurs, who have their own language and culture. Xinjiang is larger than France, Germany, and Spain combined, and along with Tibet, is one of the five supposedly “autonomous” regions in China. In reality, however, Communist Party exercises absolute authority over Xinjiang.
To rid the Turkic Muslim population of Islamic radicalism, China has been implementing the Strike Hard Campaign in Xinjiang since 2014.
Since then, activists, journalists, and academics have drawn attention to the plight of the Muslims in Xinjiang, who are being forced to give up their ethnic, religious, and cultural identities. The Belt and Road initiative of China includes Xinjiang, which is bordered by Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. China works to disprove separatist ideas to stop more movements for freedom like the one in Hong Kong.
The Chinese government prevents even traditional Muslim names, as well as wearing veils and growing beards too. China regularly conducts checks on the area using one of the most sophisticated and intrusive surveillance systems in the world. In some instances, the government has even put up security cameras inside people’s residences.
Forcing women to undergo sterilization or to use contraceptive implants is a harsh measure. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an uptick in forced sterilizations.
The Chinese government has started moving children from their homes and transferring them to exclusive boarding schools where neither their culture nor Islam are taught. Only once every two weeks are their relatives allowed to visit, and they are barred from using the Uyghur language. If families try to fight back in any way, they are sent to “political re-education” camps that have been set up all over the area.
The re-education camps in Xinjiang, officially called Vocational Education and Training Centers by the Communist Party of China, were established under General Secretary Xi Jinping’s administration. Though the government denies the existence of these camps, the UN estimates that the current number of Muslim detainees is in excess of 1.5 million. In this camp, they are kept in inhumane conditions.
Every day, individuals are forced to spend hours studying communist propaganda while chanting Xi Jinping’s praises and well wishes for a long life. Additionally, they endure constant brainwashing and humiliation. This camp also witnessed a number of deaths. The camps want everyone to always follow and praise the rules set by the Communist government of mainland China.
Denying this results in penalties including being tied to chairs for hours, beaten and tortured, waterboarded, and forced to eat only pork and alcohol, all of which are strictly forbidden in Islam. Members who are women have to deal with sexual abuse, such as rape, forced abortions, forced use of birth control, and forced sterilization.
The response of Muslim-majority nations to the situation in Xinjiang distinguishes it from the plights of Palestinians, Kashmiris, and Rohingyas. For economic and political reasons, the leaders of Islamic countries have mostly ignored the screams of their compatriots in Xinjiang. What this means is that China has rapidly become an important commercial