{"id":377,"date":"2021-04-21T16:54:34","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T13:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/?p=377"},"modified":"2021-05-09T23:15:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-09T20:15:33","slug":"residents-of-xinjiang-refrain-from-fasting-during-ramadan-despite-easing-of-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/residents-of-xinjiang-refrain-from-fasting-during-ramadan-despite-easing-of-restrictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents of Xinjiang Refrain From Fasting During Ramadan Despite \u2018Easing of Restrictions\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Below is an article published by RFA<\/a>. Photo:AFP.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restrictions on fasting during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan have eased in China\u2019s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in recent years, but residents continue to refrain from doing so, according to local authorities, suggesting a lingering fear of being branded an \u201cextremist\u201d and marked for detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

For years, Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in the XUAR have been prohibited from fully observing Ramadan due to religious persecution and restrictions imposed by the Chinese government, which has in many cases banned civil servants, students and teachers from fasting during the holy month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In certain areas of the region, access to mosques is more tightly controlled and restaurants are ordered to remain open, while Uyghur retirees are often forced to pledge ahead of Ramadan that they won\u2019t fast or pray to set an example for the wider community and to assume responsibility for ensuring others also refrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During last year\u2019s April 23 to May 23 Ramadan, RFA learned that authorities in Kashgar (in Chinese, Kashi) prefecture\u2019s Makit (Maigaiti)\u2014a county in which some 83 percent of the population is Uyghur\u2014had informed residents that they were required to turn in any friends or relatives who took part in fasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents were told that that they could face punishment for fasting, including being sent to one of the XUAR\u2019s vast network of internment camps, where authorities are believed to have held up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities since April 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RFA also spoke with an official in Kashgar\u2019s Peyziwat (Jiashi) county at the time who said his township had instituted mandatory attendance at a daily dawn flag raising ceremony, as well as evening political studies, as part of a bid to prevent residents from fasting because those are the only times of the day that they are allowed to eat, according to Muslim tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While investigating the situation in the region during this year\u2019s Ramadan, observed between April 12 to May 12, RFA spoke with representatives of government offices, including religious affairs and United Front offices\u2014many of whom, as in previous years, refused to answer questions related to restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, RFA recently contacted a police officer in Toqquzaq (Tuokezhake) township, in Kashgar\u2019s Kona Sheher (Shufu) county, who said that restrictions on fasting had \u201ceased\u201d in his region since 2020, after having been strictly banned for three consecutive years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Free to fast or not\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, he said that meetings about Ramadan are \u201calways being held\u201d at his police station, with authorities informing the public to \u201cstay far away from religious extremism\u201d and \u201cnot to believe rumors but to trust in the party and government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But amid the propaganda work, he said, residents were being told that \u201cpeople can fast if they want to,\u201d while those who prefer not to \u201cdon\u2019t have a religious responsibility to do so,\u201d suggesting that they have been given a choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[They say] it\u2019s fine for people to practice religion at the lawful place where religious activities are allowed, and that we have never restricted anything,\u201d he said, apparently referring to government-sanctioned places of worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey told people they can fast if they want now that it\u2019s Ramadan, that they are free to fast or not, and that they can practice religion at religious activities and gatherings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the police officer, restrictions on Ramadan were the toughest for the three consecutive years beginning in 2017, prior to which the influence of \u201creligious extremists\u201d had been so widespread that restaurants throughout his county were completely closed during the holy month, and \u201cnearly 100 percent of people were fasting,\u201d posing \u201ca major threat to national security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite his claim that restrictions had eased beginning in 2020, the same police officer noted that he has yet to see anyone fasting in his region since then, suggesting that Uyghurs continue to live in an environment of fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t sensed that [people are fasting] at all \u2026 I haven\u2019t come across a single person that I\u2019ve thought is fasting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany people have become very disgusted by religious extremism \u2026 and they worry about being seen and counted as an extremist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018No such thing\u2019 as fasting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A resident of Kashgar\u2019s neighboring Yengisheher (Shule) county seemed to confirm that Uyghurs didn\u2019t dare fast this year for fear of drawing the attention of authorities, adding that he and his relatives were unaware of when Ramadan would even be observed in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, no\u2014there\u2019s no such thing now,\u201d said the resident, who also declined to be named, when asked if he was fasting for Ramadan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know neither when Ramadan is starting nor when it ends. I\u2019m going to and from work in the early mornings, so I\u2019m completely unaware, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observers have noted that when Chinese authorities find themselves under heavy pressure from the global community over abuses in the XUAR, they often attempt to avoid criticism by temporarily lifting and easing some restrictions in the region. Such measures are used to set an artificial stage\u2014particularly prior to the arrival of international observers and investigators to the XUAR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it might be the case that authorities intend to stage such an environment in Toqquzaq and elsewhere in the region, reports suggest that residents have become so fearful of being branded an extremist that they may ultimately be unable to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Below is an article published by RFA. Photo:AFP. Restrictions on fasting during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan have eased in China\u2019s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in recent years, but residents continue to refrain from doing so, according to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":482,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions\/482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dukva.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}