A major protest against the Chinese government is being plotted by Pakistani men who say that their wives have been detained in China’s Xinjiang province, Asia Times has learnt. If not addressed in time, the fallout could adversely affect the ambitious China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as well as the Belt Road Initiative (BRI).
The men, mostly businessmen from the Gilgit-Baltistan region, say that their wives, of Uyghur ethnicity, are being kept in camps by Chinese authorities.
Beijing has initiated a crackdown against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, which borders Gilgit-Baltistan, saying some had ties with Islamist extremists in the region. But Pakistani government officials say that the Uyghurs have been detained as a part of China’s plan to “re-educate” them and better integrate the ethnic group with the rest of the country.
“The Chinese government feels that the only way to undo the Islamist indoctrination of the local Uyghurs is by initiating what you can call an unlearning process, where they are taught supremacy of Chinese sovereignty over religion,” a senior diplomat told Asia Times. “So they have created these re-education schools to teach the Uyghurs about what their government feels is mandatory to be a ‘true Chinese citizen.”
Wives in Chinese prisons
Diplomatic sources have confirmed that many Pakistani men, whose wives come from Xinjiang, have filed complaints with the Pakistani embassy in Beijing, saying their wives and their families have been detained and not allowed to get in touch with them. Some of the couples have been married for over 20 years.
Worried at the fallout in Pakistan and sensitive border areas, the Pakistani embassy in Beijing has taken up the issue with their Chinese foreign ministry counterparts, as well as the Ministry of Public Security. However, Pakistani diplomatic efforts have met with little success so far, and the Chinese government has continued to stonewall queries, diplomatic sources told Asia Times.
Some complaints state that wives and their family members have been tortured by Chinese authorities. This was not only a breach of people’s rights but has also been damaging for the families of men involved, they said. It was initially believed that only men from the Gilgit-Baltistan border region are affected by the crackdown, but men from all over the country have come forward to complain about ill-treatment of their wives.
“Some of us have been able to connect to our wives once every few weeks, but I for one haven’t heard from my wife at all, for over a year,” Malik*, a small business owner from Lahore’s Garhi Shahu area told Asia Times outside the Chinese Consulate-General, where he had registered a complaint. Malik said that local men have been registering complaints at Pakistani and Chinese embassies, with officials from both countries, but they had yet to receive an encouraging response.
“Many of us are now connected because we’ve been meeting up at embassies and offices. And since there has been no support from the government we will now launch protests for the sake of our families.”
Protests could hurt Chinese Corridor
One of the many issues these men face is a refusal by Chinese officials to renew their visas. In some cases, Pakistani men have been barred from entering Xinjiang despite getting a visa from the Chinese embassy in Islamabad. Last month the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly demanded action from both Pakistani and Chinese authorities so the men’s wives are released.
There has been a long history of Gilgit-Baltistan men marrying Uyghur women from Xinjiang. But for the Chinese, the latter could represent a threat if they have ties to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a separatist movement that orchestrated terror attacks in China. Last year, Beijing launched counter-extremism measures such as banning the burqa and “abnormal” beards, as well as religious names for children in the province.
The Pakistani government has so far warded off any backlash over the Chinese government’s measures, which local people perceive to be ‘anti-Islam’, in a bid to forestall adverse effects on the US$62 billion CPEC, but there is concern about collective protests by local men demanding that their wives be released from custody.
The Pakistan economy and currency have taken a hit after the Financial Action Task Force [FATF], the global body that outlaws the funding of terrorism, put the country back on its watchlist. Finance officials in Islamabad have been hoping that Beijing and Riyadh will help stabilize the economy, which is in a dire state.
“Considering the FATF setback, we can ill-afford any negative impact on CPEC, or anything that could damage our ties with the Chinese,” a Pakistani Foreign Office official told Asia Times, conceding that the government is in a bit of a fix over the potential protests.
The growing unrest is worrying for Islamabad after images of Chinese engineers brawling with local police went viral on social media recently, and prompted deportations. There is a growing sense of resentment among locals, with many accusing the state of bowing to Chinese hegemony and leaving the Pakistani government in a mess a couple of months ahead of a general election.
This news is the most odd in memory, given the large/universal , humorous, recognized harmony rift between marriage partners. Surely Catholics are the greatest security risk possible anywhere, but a smaller percent of population in that neighborhood of Asia, therefore "off the hook". Thinking about the the marriages/mates unhappy together is there a "silver lining" to the strange divide ?
Fascist Chinese communist
It seems unlikely that the decision for "re-education" of middle-aged women or couples was a committee action, unless there was incorrect information or a faulty translation (of sentiments). The only possible demographic of security risk is males aged 12 to 40 years. China will receive great goodwill and trust from the couples by ending the separation and thanking the couples for their attention. Committee or officer should be strong and go on to love China in another way.
I do not know anything about this wife arresting issues, but I sounds a little bit strange and China should change it if is a big problem. Anyway, the Uighurs has been complaining a lot of discrimination and accused the Chinese Government to send in a lot of Hun-Chinese to make them a minority. They say the Chinese Government demand them to sell alcohol and tobacco to be allowed to operate a convenience store.
The Uighur conflict has become a part of a geopolitical strategy game. The US want to Balkanize China, and they support the Uighurs, who has several organisations in the US, demanding independence for “East Turkestan”.
The Uighurs is part of the Turkic people who was part of the Ottoman Empire. There are Turkic people in many of the former Soviet Union “Soviets” and the US want them to seek independence and be a part of NATO. CIA uses the Turkic “Grey Wolves” to achieve their objectives. The cooperation with the Turkish/Turkic “Grey Wolfes” goes back many decades and they have been used in many NATO operations, including acts terrorism. Politically, the “Grey Wolfs” are more right-wing then President Erdogan and very pro-NATO. Uighurs has been train for and used in operations in Syria and Iraq.
For China Uighur terrorism is a problem and the Chinese do not like the idea of being Balkanized. So, they are monitored. We know the Turkic/Turkish “Grey Wolfes” is involved in criminal operations like human trafficking and was allegedly behind the bombing of a Hindu Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, killing 20 people and injuring 125 people and two other bombs in Bangkok. Thanks to good police work by the Thailand Police, several of the terrorists was arrested only days after the tragedy.
It would be sad if this “wife arrests” would affect the cooperation between China and Pakistan. The new silk road project will give a lot of business opportunities for both China and Pakistan. Pakistan seem to be tired of the US harassment and insults, so Pakistan seek closer relations with China and Saudi Arabia. Support for the US-Pakistan “alliance” is in the single digits in Pakistan, so it looks like the US will be kicked out from Pakistan and maybe also Afghanistan, if Pakistan deceide to refuse US to use Pakistan to transport goods and services to US troops and contractors in Afghanistan.