{"id":195095,"date":"2016-07-06T18:32:24","date_gmt":"2016-07-07T01:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=195095"},"modified":"2021-09-14T20:32:11","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T03:32:11","slug":"china-imposes-selective-fasting-ban-amid-terror-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/07\/china-imposes-selective-fasting-ban-amid-terror-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"Xinjiang Imposes Selective Fasting Ban"},"content":{"rendered":"
The government in Xinjiang has\u00a0once again\u00a0banned state employees, Party members, students, and minors from fasting<\/strong><\/a> during Ramadan. The customary\u00a0ban on Ramadan observance<\/a> was\u00a0imposed this year shortly after Beijing issued a white paper<\/a> in June applauding\u00a0religious freedom in Xinjiang. Matt Payton reported last month for\u00a0the\u00a0Independent:<\/p>\n A notice on a government website in the central Xinjiang city of Korla read as:\u00a0“Party members, cadres, civil servants, students and minors must not fast for Ramadan and must not take part in religious activities.<\/p>\n “During the Ramadan month, food and drink businesses must not close.”<\/p>\n Dilxat Raxit from the exile group, the World Uyghur Congress, has\u00a0condemned the restrictions, telling Khaleej Times<\/em>: “China thinks that the Islamic faith of Uighurs threatens the rule of the Beijing leadership”.<\/p>\n While local government has imposed its annual restrictions on observing Ramadan,\u00a0Beijing has stated it in a white paper\u00a0“there will be no interference” in Muslim religious practices. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Authorities in\u00a0Xinjiang<\/a>\u00a0have enacted\u00a0numerous\u00a0<\/strong>cultural and religious restrictions<\/a>\u00a0in recent years\u00a0to police ethnic Uyghurs amid an ongoing crackdown on terrorism, launched in May 2014<\/a> in response to mounting violence in the region<\/a> and elsewhere in China<\/a>. In addition to the banning of headscarves<\/a> and beards<\/a>, recent examples include the official\u00a0promotion of beer drinking<\/a>,\u00a0during Ramadan,\u00a0the state-ordered sale of alcohol and cigarettes in restaurants owned and catering to Muslims<\/a>, and government calls for racial \u201cblending\u201d<\/a>\u00a0in Xinjiang. Some of these restrictions, however, have backfired<\/a> and motivated locals to become more observant of Islamic practices.<\/p>\n Aside from these constraints, Uyghurs are frequently targeted by law enforcement as a part of the countrywide\u00a0\u201cwar on terror\u201d<\/a>\u00a0campaign, which President Xi Jinping launched in 2014 in\u00a0response to violence that\u00a0authorities have attributed to\u00a0Uyghur\u00a0separatists\u00a0and\u00a0religious extremists.\u00a0At The Washington Post, Emily Rauhala looks at how Xinjiang’s Uyghur community has been regarded by officials as potential terrorists whose activities must be constantly monitored and controlled<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n In Kashgar, the government\u2019s anti-terrorism rhetoric is everywhere. A public bathroom in the Old City features a 22-point infographic on how not to become an extremist.\u00a0 Posters at family restaurants offer rewards for information on suspicious activity.<\/p>\n The problem, residents said, is that almost any kind of activity can be deemed suspicious \u2014 especially if you are Uighur.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0Two Uighur men confirmed reports that Kashgar police are stopping people on the street to search the contents of their phones. Foreign-made apps such as Facebook and Skype bring trouble, they said, as does any \u201cIslamic\u201d content \u2014 although what constitutes \u201cIslamic” is unclear.<\/p>\n At a trade fair in Kashgar, a Uighur in the textile business said the police have stopped him and searched his cellphone on more than one occasion. He asked not to be named, saying that talking to a foreign reporter could itself be considered subversive, even extreme.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t matter whether it\u2019s Ramadan, he said, because \u201cthey can pick you up for anything.\u201d [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Chinese government’s restrictive policies in Xinjiang have drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and foreign governments. On Wednesday, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom issued a statement condemning Beijing<\/a> for its\u00a0Ramadan fasting ban.<\/p>\n Following an invitation from the Chinese government,\u00a0a delegation of clerics and religious scholars from Pakistan made their way to Xinjiang earlier this month to verify media reports of fasting restrictions in the region. At The Gulf Today, Tariq Butt\u00a0writes\u00a0that members of the delegation reported seeing no evidence that Muslims in Xinjiang have been denied their religious freedom<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n The delegation visited Xinjiang between June 26 and 28 on the request of the Chinese government which asked Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Office to send a delegation for observing the Ramadan\u2019s practices in the Muslim populated province to dispel the controversy once and for all.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0“During the visit, it was found that the Muslim community (in Xinjiang) has complete religious freedom and they are free to perform their religious duties,\u201d the official quoted a member of the delegation as saying.<\/p>\n The official said that they were received by the Department of Religious Affairs of the Chinese government and they also visited mosques in Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang, and elsewhere in the region.<\/p>\n During the visit the Chinese Muslims informed the members of the delegation that they enjoyed religious freedom.<\/p>\n The official said that the delegation would file its report to the secretary of the ministry of religious affairs which will forward it to the foreign ministry. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The delegation’s findings echo\u00a0a\u00a0Pakistan Observer editorial<\/a>, which argues that “the very fact that the Chinese Government itself asked Pakistan to send a delegation to verify reports about China banning fasting in Xinjiang exposes falsehood of the propaganda unleashed every year by Western media on the issue.” It is worth noting that government authorities exercise strict control of the media narrative in Xinjiang<\/a>, routinely barring journalists from accessing sensitive sites<\/a>. Pakistan and China have enjoyed a close diplomatic relationship since the founding of the two\u00a0modern nations.\u00a0In 2014 Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz called the friendship \u201csweeter than the sweetest honey<\/a>.\u201d In a February\u00a0interview with The New York Times, Chinese foreign policy analyst Yan Xuetong\u00a0referred to Pakistan as China\u2019s only real ally<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The government in Xinjiang has\u00a0once again\u00a0banned state employees, Party members, students, and minors from fasting during Ramadan. The customary\u00a0ban on Ramadan observance was\u00a0imposed this year shortly after Beijing issued a white paper in June applauding\u00a0religious freedom in Xinjiang. Matt Payton reported last month for\u00a0the\u00a0Independent: A notice on a government website in the central Xinjiang city […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1088,"featured_media":195111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[34,14744,14745,14746,100,5,1051],"tags":[315,4025,690,7210,79,78,306,15460,5921],"class_list":["post-195095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","category-society","category-top-article","tag-islam","tag-pakistan-relations","tag-propaganda","tag-ramadan","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom","tag-terrorism","tag-uyghurs","tag-xinjiang","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n