Source: Aljazeera
China has banned civil servants, students and teachers in its
mainly Muslim Xinjiang region from fasting during Ramadan
and ordered restaurants to stay open.
Most Muslims are required to fast from dawn to dusk during
the holy month, which began on Thursday, but China’s ruling
Communist party is officially atheist and for years has
restricted the practice in Xinjiang, home to the mostly
Muslim Uighur minority.
“Food service workplaces will operate normal hours during
Ramadan,” said a notice posted last week on the website of
the state Food and Drug Administration in Xinjiang’s Jinghe
county.
Officials in the region’s Bole county were told: “During
Ramadan do not engage in fasting, vigils or other religious
activities,” according to a local government website report of
a meeting this week.
Each year, the authority’s attempt to ban fasting among
Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang receives widespread criticism
from rights groups.
Uighur rights groups say China’s restrictions on Islam in
Xinjiang have added to ethnic tensions in the region, where
clashes have killed hundreds in recent years.
China says it faces a “terrorist threat” in Xinjiang, with
officials blaming “religious extremism” for the growing
violence.
“China’s goal in prohibiting fasting is to forcibly move Uighurs
away from their Muslim culture during Ramadan,” said Dilxat
Rexit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress.
“Policies that prohibit religious fasting is a provocation and
will only lead to instability and conflict.”
As in previous years, school children were included in
directives limiting Ramadan fasting and other religious
observances.
The education bureau of Tarbaghatay city, known as
Tacheng in Chinese, this month ordered schools to
communicate to students that “during Ramadan, ethnic
minority students do not fast, do not enter mosques … and do
not attend religious activities”.
Post a Comment