{"id":792,"date":"2018-05-22T11:39:45","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T11:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=792"},"modified":"2018-05-22T11:39:45","modified_gmt":"2018-05-22T11:39:45","slug":"uyghur-schoolchildren-parents-forced-to-abstain-from-fasting-during-ramadan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/?p=792","title":{"rendered":"Uyghur Schoolchildren, Parents Forced to Abstain From Fasting During Ramadan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Authorities in northwest China\u2019s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are forcing Uyghur students and their parents to sign pledges that they will not fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan in a bid to further undermine the religious traditions of the mostly Muslim ethnic group.<\/p>\n

Officials have typically forced restaurants to stay open and restricted access to mosques during Ramadan, and last year sources told RFA\u2019s Uyghur Service that Uyghur Communist Party cadres, civil servants and government retirees were made to sign documents that said they would neither fast nor pray during the holy month, ostensibly to set an example to other Uyghurs in the community.<\/p>\n

But a student in Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) prefecture\u2019s Peyziwat (Jiashi) county recently told RFA that school officials made him and his classmates sign agreements with their parents that they would not fast during Ramadan\u2014which falls between May 16 and June 14 this year\u2014marking the first time authorities have been known to target school-age children with the measures.<\/p>\n

The report suggest that authorities are making unprecedented incursions into the personal lives of Uyghurs to eliminate what they call signs of religious \u201cextremism\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we are students, we don\u2019t fast,\u201d said the student, who spoke with RFA on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have signed a school agreement and also written a letter of promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked if his parents were fasting during Ramadan, the student said that they weren\u2019t because \u201cthey are not allowed to practice such things in front of \u2026 their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo act as role models, of course they will not fast,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

A female cadre from Peyziwat county said that ahead of Ramadan \u201call cadres and party members were called to the county office for a meeting, in which we were told to \u2018be more vigilant\u2019 and to \u2018pay special attention\u2019 to anyone who complains about the government\u2019s policy regarding religious extremism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cadres are working hard on \u2026 educating [residents] about the incorrectness of fasting,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

When asked whether fasting was considered an \u201cillegal religious activity,\u201d the cadre acknowledged that it is not, but said \u201cpeople shouldn\u2019t complain when living under such good conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also confirmed a report by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) earlier this month that authorities are imposing regular \u201chome stays\u201d on Muslim Uyghur families of cadres who record information about their lives and political views, and subject them to political indoctrination, as part of an increasingly invasive \u201cstrike hard\u201d campaign in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are helping farmers get out of poverty,\u201d she said of the home stay policy, which the government says provides families with access to education about technical skills and teaches them Mandarin Chinese to help residents find better work.<\/p>\n

Other sources, including an officer at a police station in Aksu (Akesu) prefecture, said increased security measures are in effect around the region during Ramadan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have intensified patrols in order to retain stability, and at the moment there are no instability issues,\u201d said the officer, before hanging up the phone.<\/p>\n

Existing measures<\/p>\n

The new restrictions surrounding Ramadan are in line with existing measures targeting religious \u201cextremism\u201d that have been introduced in recent years.<\/p>\n

Since April, thousands of Uyghurs accused of harboring \u201cextremist\u201d and \u201cpolitically incorrect\u201d views have been detained in political re-education camps and prisons throughout Xinjiang, where members of the ethnic group complain of pervasive discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression under Chinese rule.<\/p>\n

Authorities have relied on a list circulated early last year of \u201c75 Signs of Religious Extremism\u201d to detain Uyghurs amid a string of harsh policies attacking their legitimate rights and freedoms enacted since Communist Party secretary Chen Quanguo was appointed to run the region in August 2016.<\/p>\n

Among the signs of extremism on the list were \u201cconducting business as usual\u201d and \u201cwomen who wear religious clothing to work\u201d during Ramadan, \u201cstoring or purchasing large quantities of food for home\u201d and \u201cacting abnormal,\u201d and \u201cpraying in groups in public outside of mosques.\u201d<\/p>\n

But party officials told RFA that they had been notified of several new \u201csigns of extremism\u201d in April last year, including people who stand with their legs wide apart while praying, dye their hair with henna, wear short trousers, wear a watch on their right wrist, and those suddenly abstaining from alcohol.<\/p>\n

Another list informs officials to watch out for the so-called \u201c28 Signs of Illegal Religious Activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahead of Ramadan this year, the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) exile group issued a statement urging the Chinese government to ensure the right to religious freedom for Uyghurs, and to allow them to observe the holy month without restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach year, the month of Ramadan has been turned into one of fear and anxiety because of the increased restrictions, which has caused untold disturbance in the daily life of the Uyghur people,\u201d WUC president Dolkun Isa said at the time.<\/p>\n

China regularly conducts \u201cstrike hard\u201d campaigns in Xinjiang, including police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the culture and language of the Uyghur people, including videos and other material.<\/p>\n

While China blames some Uyghurs for “terrorist” attacks, experts outside China say Beijing has exaggerated the threat from the Uyghurs and that repressive domestic policies are responsible for an upsurge in violence there that has left hundreds dead since 2009.<\/p>\n

Reported by Gulchehra Hoja for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Translated by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
\nSource: https:\/\/www.rfa.org\/english\/news\/uyghur\/schoolchildren-05212018151019.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authorities in northwest China\u2019s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are forcing Uyghur students and their parents to sign pledges that they will not fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan in a bid to further undermine the religious traditions of the mostly Muslim ethnic group. Officials have typically forced restaurants to stay open and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uyghur-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":794,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792\/revisions\/794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akademiye.org\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}