Pakistani Article Says Europe, US Supporting Uprising in China's Xinjiang
Posted on: Wednesday, 7 May 2008, 03:00 CDT
Text of commentary by Retired Colonel Ghulam Sarwar: "Warning of Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan With Regard to Xinjiang" published by Pakistani newspaper Ausaf on 5 May
It is an established fact that China has fully supported Pakistan at every hour of trial. However, it is very regrettable that the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan had to publicly say the other day that some elements in Pakistan were bent on damaging the cordial relations between two countries. He said that such situation was a matter of concern for them. This is perhaps for the first time that a senior Chinese official has made such remarks. If an official who is well acquainted with diplomatic norms and realizes his responsibility to use words with utmost care has resorted to such rhetoric, then there is certainly something wrong.
There are signs that bilateral relations between two sides are getting somewhat lukewarm, and the subversive elements seem to be succeeding in their efforts to create mistrust between them. The Chinese ambassador said that the Turkmenistan Islamic Movement [TIM] was a militant outfit, having links with Al-Qa'idah. He claimed that besides providing financial assistance to the group, Al-Qa'idah was also imparting training to its activists. The Chinese envoy said that this group was bent on to create conflict between Pakistan and China. While making these remarks, the Chinese ambassador was referring to the negligence of the Pakistani officials toward this issue. He said that opportunities were being created for anti-China activities in the Pakistani territory because of the negligence of Pakistani authorities. It is expected that during the recent visit of President Pervez Musharraf to China, he would have been informed of the sentiments of Chinese authorities. When he visited Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang Province, the officials of that province would have certainly informed the president about the activities of this secessionist group.
A glance at the past history would show that during the Taleban tenure, the Muslims from China's Xinjiang Province used to visit Afghanistan, and they had also secured guerilla warfare training at Taleban-run training camps. Some Chinese youth had even settled in the tribal areas of Pakistan, particularly Waziristan. Secret talks were in progress between the Taleban and the Chinese Government under the mediation of Pakistan when the 9/11 incidents played havoc in the world. As a consequence, the process of talks between the Taleban and China also came to an end. Later, when China realized that several Chinese Muslim students were busy in underground activities against their government, the Government of Pakistan took a serious note of it, and sent all the Chinese students back to their country. Later, the Pakistani government also laid the condition that no foreign student could seek admission in any Pakistani educational institute unless allowed by the embassy of his country.
To remove the concerns of China, even the Pakistani religious groups have assured that they would not endorse any underground activities against the Chinese government. Besides the religious and political parties, the Pakistani seminaries have also made such assurances. This has made it abundantly clear that any religious group or party has even no thought of harming the territorial integrity of China. A question arises here that when people belonging to all schools of thought in Pakistan have a soft corner for China, then who are the elements that are interfering in the internal affairs of China.
In this connection, prominent analyst Irshad Mahmud writes that though China has given internal autonomy to Xinjiang Province, yet the higher posts in the province are still occupied by ethnic Chinese people. Similarly, he says that the local Muslims have been deprived of their rights in the province.
The resistance movement of the Chinese Muslims came to the front in 1990 as a reaction from the Muslims. At that time, the Chinese government had adopted a strong policy to tackle these elements. To avoid the wrath of the government, the youths affiliated with this movement resorted to underground activities, and later they also began sabotage activities. The resistance activities created difficulties for the Chinese government and gradually posing a challenge to the security of that country. Now this threat has further increased.
The present situation is that this resistance movement is getting international publicity, and the TIM has established a strong base in many European cities. Different European organizations are also advocating the case of the Muslims of Xinjiang at different levels. In this way, diplomatic pressure is being increased on China. Turkey and the other Central Asian countries sympathize with the Xinjiang Muslims. If seen in this background, it becomes abundantly clear that the source of support and encouragement for the TIM is not Pakistan but the United States and the European countries. There is no individual or group in Pakistan that is against the territorial and geographic integrity of China.
In this situation, the biggest challenge for Pakistan is that despite having deep friendly relations with China at official level, they should encourage people-to-people relations between two countries. Information in this connection is mostly dependent on Western media sources while this is a hard fact that the Western media are not losing any opportunity to malign Pakistan. The Western media has always presented a negative image of Pakistan and tried their level best to antagonize Chinese leaders with Pakistan. We are sure that China will not be influenced by this Western propaganda, and relations between the two countries will always remain cordial.
Sources: Ausaf, Islamabad in Urdu, 5 May 08, p10
(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific
User Comments (1)
| 1. |
Posted by Crazy on 05/07/2008, 09:44 I wonder if it's the translator or the author who doesn't know the difference between Turkmenistan and (East) Turkestan. But it is clearly the author who cannot distinguish between terrorism and support among many nations for a legitimate human rights movement. |
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