Uyghur Muslims in China face worst Islamophobia

BEIJING: The UN has been very cleverly manipulated into declaring March 15 as anti-Islamophobia day, according to a report by Greek news and media website Directus. The UN has been very cleverly manipulated in declaring March 15 as anti-Islamophobia day and this will have at least two major effects. First is that every year there would be violent agitations, in countries like Pakistan, against western countries who have been accused of desecration of the holy Quran, printing sketches of Prophet Mohammad or writing against Islam. Such agitations may also target other countries like India, Directus reported.

The second effect would be that these agitations will not die down in just a day. They will go on for a long period and generate hate and encourage terrorism. And all this will take away attention from the western campaigns against human rights violations of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, Directus reported. China made a clever decision to use Pakistan, an Islamic country to counter the west's campaign against human rights violations of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. In September last year, Pakistan led 68 countries at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council opposing what they called interference in China's internal affairs under the pretext of human rights. They said Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet were China's internal affairs and there should be no politicisation of human rights and double standards.

It is doubtful if the OIC made an honest study of Islamophobia. For example, how can writing against Islam become Islamophobia while an order banning Islamic practices, as in Xinjiang, or burning of Quran in Pakistan, is not? It is surprising, or rather hypocritical, that the OIC countries do not see worse than Islamophobia happening in camps of Xinjiang where one and a half million Muslims are being forced to unlearn Islam. The Chinese call these Muslim terrorists. OIC members believe all that, Directus reported. A careful study of China's impositions on Uyghur Muslims creates a suspicion that Xinjiang is being used as a laboratory for de-Islamisation. These impositions include discouragement from observing Islamic practices like fasting during the holy month of Ramzan, eating halal meat, giving children Islamic names, and dresses for men and women that identify with their religion.

In the two joint statements, Pakistan has very conveniently ignored the basic cause of rights violation: Uyghur Muslims' insistence on living in accordance with their faith (Islam) is not tolerated by the Communist government. As a result, Uyghur Muslims face the worst kind of Islamophobia in Xinjiang. China was very happy with this joint statement. Chinese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to the UN Chen Xu thanked his Pakistani counterpart Khaib-ur-Rehman Hashmi and requested him to cosponsor a joint statement again during the 52nd session of the council, Directus reported.

The Chinese wanted the joint statement to say: "All human rights should be treated with some emphasis, with sufficient importance attached to economic, social and cultural rights and the right to development in particular." As for Islamophobia day, will the UN declare a day each for Hinduphobia, Christian phobia and Jeruphobia because they all face hate, persecution and even extermination in different degrees in different parts of the world? the Directus questioned.