Xinjiang: Pursuing its trying to wipe out the Uyghur ethnic society, China in previous yrs. have closed & demolished numerous main shrines, mosques & different holy structures across Xinjiang that have long preserved the culture & Islamic beliefs of the area’s Muslims, as per The NY Times.
8500 mosques demolished from 2017
Citing a record by this Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), The NY Times recorded that about 8,500 mosques across Xinjiang were completely demolished from 2017 — over a 3rd of the amount of mosques the govt states are within the area.
“What it does show is a campaign of demolition & erasure that is unprecedented from the cultural revolution,” Nathan Ruser, the researcher in the institute who commanded the analysis, has been quoted as informing.
Under Mao Zedong, multiple mosques & different religious websites have been destroyed from 1966.
ASPI’s record is on the basis of a random sample of 533 well-known mosque websites across Xinjiang, & satellite pictures of every website that have been taken in various times to assess shifts.
Beijing dismissed records
Meantime, the Beijing govt has dismissed the records on the widespread demolition of religious websites in Xinjiang & termed it as “overall nonsense”.
As per China, the ASPI’s record is biased as the institute is being funded by this US govt.
“What we watch here is the wilful destruction of websites that are in each way the heritage of the Uighur citizens & the heritage of this land,” Rachel Harris, an expert on Uighur music & culture in the University of London who reviewed the record, has been quoted as informing.
The NY Times recorded that China had banned festivals & pilgrimages in Ordam in 1997, & different shrines closed within the following yrs..
By 2018, the Ordam shrine has been leveled, therefore, wiping out one such most prominent religious websites in Xinjiang.
The NY Times furthermore recorded that in this city of Hotan in southern Xinjiang a park was constructed where as per satellite pictures habituated to be a mosque until 2017.
Religious websites in Xinjiang
Awhile some of the religious websites in Xinjiang were razed, some of the were changed into officer tourist attractions.
Past month, Radio Free Asia had recorded a people washroom being built on the website of a demolished mosque in Atush of Xinjiang area.