Emergency meeting regarding Yarkand Massacre
ETAA office 9th August 2014
All members of the East Turkistan community were invited to discuss the recent events in East Turkistan in particularly the massacre of thousands of innocent civilians in the town of Yarkand.
Nurmuhammad Turkistani presented the current situation in the south of East Turkistan. It is understood that on the last days of Ramadan on July the 28th a group of women and children at Ilishkou country in Yarkand had gathered to commemorate the last days of fasting by performing a night vigil or prayers.
The police had found out about the ‘illegal religious gathering’and sent in a fully armed special army unit and in the late hours of the night the army shot and killed all the women and children present. According to witness reports then the army with the support of other special army units went on a killing spree killing up 5000 victims. And currently the area is isolated from the rest of the world as the Chinese government has shutdown all forms of communication such as the internet and phone and set up check points to prevent any one coming in or leaving.
The situation in East Turkistan has been dire since the Urumchi riots of 2009 in particular in southern East Turkistan where they have seen increased persecution of the Muslim inhabitants by forcing the Muslim population not to fast in the month of Ramadan by providing free food and monitoring the Muslims to ensure they do not fast. Also banning the veil and sporting a beard have now been implemented in full force.
As the President of ETAA made mention that due to the severe restrictions in the daily movements, many Uighur’s have now decided to leave their homeland to search for countries where they can live with dignity and practice their faith. The treacherous journey through the jungles of South East Asia has not been easy as many on the way have died on the way in particulary infants and the elderly and many others have been caught by the local authorities and returned back to China where they have faced severe punishment. The ones that crossed into Thailand and Malaysia seeking refuge have been detained and currently there are close to 500 Uighur’s in detention center awaiting their fate in Thailand and thousands more in Malaysia.
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