Protests were organized in Istanbul by the Uyghurs against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan over statements he made about China shortly before travelling for the Beijing Olympics 2022 opening ceremony.
According to ANI, Uyghur Muslim protestors congregated in front of the Pakistan embassy in Istanbul in Turkey on February 11 and chanted slogans against Imran Khan’s comments in which he granted China a clean chit over its oppression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province in China. The major cause for the protest, according to Uyghurs, was “Imran Khan’s falsehoods and the deportation of Uyghur Muslims from Pakistan.”
Buses carrying 130 Uyghur protesters had arrived outside the Pakistan Consulate in Istanbul. However, only ten demonstrators were permitted to stand in front of the Pakistan consulate’s main entrance at any given moment.
The Pakistan consulate’s security officials were also given a document, which they refused to accept. The message was later attached to the front gate of the consulate.
Senior embassy officials came out to negotiate with the protestors and instead tried to urge them to march in front of the Chinese embassy. Several times throughout the gathering, there were clashes between security personnel and protesters.
Pakistan’s disdain for Uyghurs
Despite international efforts to hold Beijing accountable for the suppression of Uyghur Muslims in the area, Imran Khan, who has long portrayed himself as a champion of Islamic issues, continues to defend China’s Xinjiang policy.
Chinese authorities have tortured a number of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region for years as part of their drive to monitor, regulate, and integrate members of the Islamic religion in order to combat religious extremism and terrorist operations. Nearly all Islamic countries have kept silent on the persecution of Uyghurs in China.
Persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China
In Xinjiang, nearly 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities have been reportedly detained in a network of detention centers since 2017. By stating that the camps are vocational training schools, Beijing has refuted numerous and proven reports that it has tortured Muslims in Xinjiang. The Communist Party of China’s (CCP) objective is to integrate Uyghurs into the dominant Han Chinese ethnicity by stripping them of their religious and ethnic identities. While Uyghur Muslims face re-educational camps, forced labor, and digital surveillance, including their children being indoctrinated in orphanages.
The CCP restricts any news revealing the horrors committed against the Uyghurs in the detention centers in order to counteract scathing foreign findings. Several foreign journalists covering the plight of the Uyghurs have been expelled from China, while academics, activists, and survivors who try to expose China’s deceit have been mocked and harassed. Those who speak out against China’s illegal detention of Uyghurs are either intimidated or executed.
