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Olympic Torch Hurts Uighur Muslims
BEIJING — The Olympic torch might be bringing a smile to many faces in China, but in the Muslim-majority northwest Xinjiang region it has a sour taste.
"The Chinese authorities have been heavily cracking down on the Uighurs in order to bring the torch through East Turkestan," Rebiya Kadeer, head of the Uighur American Association, told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Monday, May 5, using the Uighur name of the region.
"We have learned that many Uighurs are being detained and arrested by the Chinese authorities to prevent their peaceful protests in relation to the torch."
Secretary General of the Munich-based World Uighur Congress Dolkun Isa echoed similar concerns earlier this week.
"Everywhere, homes, hotels are searched. People are arrested. Even people with no past records have been arrested simply because they look suspicious."
Isa said that more than 10,000 people are believed to have been rounded up over the past four to five months as part of a major pre-Olympic crackdown on the territory, home to millions of the ethnic Uighur minority.
The Olympic torch's domestic route was kicked off on Sunday, May 4, with legs planned through simmering Tibet on June 19-20 and Xinjiang on June 25-27.
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"We have learned that many Uighurs are being detained and arrested by the Chinese authorities to prevent their peaceful protests in relation to the torch."
Secretary General of the Munich-based World Uighur Congress Dolkun Isa echoed similar concerns earlier this week.
"Everywhere, homes, hotels are searched. People are arrested. Even people with no past records have been arrested simply because they look suspicious."
Isa said that more than 10,000 people are believed to have been rounded up over the past four to five months as part of a major pre-Olympic crackdown on the territory, home to millions of the ethnic Uighur minority.
The Olympic torch's domestic route was kicked off on Sunday, May 4, with legs planned through simmering Tibet on June 19-20 and Xinjiang on June 25-27.
More
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"Like other Tibetans, our community too has faced tough times and undergone great mental and physical strain," Butt, one of Tibetan Muslims living in India-controlled Kashmir, told the Times of India on Sunday, May 4.
Like Buddhist compatriots, thousands of Muslims have left their homes in the Chinese-controlled region more than 50 years ago.
Today, there are around 2,000 of them living in the disputed Himalayan region and many of them have Indian citizenship.
Though many of them were born in exile and never saw Tibet, the territory remains an emotive issue for them.
The Tibetan Muslim Youth Federation, a body that works for the welfare of the community, recently staged a march to show solidarity with fellow Tibetans.
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