China demolishes mosque to construct public toilet in Xinjiang, Pakistan remains silent

A public toilet has been erected on the site of a demolished mosque in Atush (in Chinese, Atushi) city, in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Some observers believe it is a mission of the Chinese Communist Party aimed at breaking the spirit of Uyghur Muslims. But China's 'good' friend Pakistan pretends it doesn't even know what's going on in Xinjiang and has failed to respond to the development so far. 

"Pakistan foreign-policy agenda carries a contradiction at its heart. Pakistan seeks to project themselves as a global defender of Islam, but he won’t utter a peep about the most egregious persecutions of Muslims in China." said a officer working with security establishment.

China has waged a war on its Muslims targeting their culture, history and their religion and those in Xinjiang cannot do much about it. 

China is now home to more than 22 million Muslims, including some 11 million Uyghurs. Mosques and other religious sites in Xinjiang were badly damaged during the political upheaval of China’s 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.

Directive to destroy Muslim places of worship en masse is part of the Mosque Rectification campaign which was launched by China in 2016. This is part of a series of hard-line policies under Chinese President Xi Jinping and it predates the mass incarceration of as many as 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a vast network of internment camps in the XUAR.

A report from Radio Free Asia which recently conducted a telephonic interview with Uyghur reported that local people said there was no need for the public toilet in the community since most people have rest rooms at their residence and hardly any tourists visit this place. Toilet was likely built to cover up the ruins of the destroyed Tokul mosque, as well as for the needs of inspecting groups or cadres visiting the area. As per the community chief the restroom construction is complete but not open for use yet.

In Hotan (Hetian) prefecture’s Lop (Luopu) county reported that authorities were planning to use a site of a former mosque to open an “activities center” that would serve as a spot for entertainment. 

In Hotan city’s Ilchi township a former mosque site was slated for conversion into a factory to produce underwear for a Sichuan-based company.

This is not the only mosque demolished, earlier Azna mosque and Bastaggam mosque had been destroyed and replaced with “a convenience store” that sells alcohol and cigarettes, the use of which is frowned upon in Islam.

As per Mosque Rectification campaign, CCP authorities have destroyed some 70 percent of the mosques across the XUAR.

In addition to mosques, the Chinese authorities have been systematically destroying Muslim cemeteries and other religious structures. Investigation carried out by Agency France-Presse revealed that at least 45 cemeteries in the XUAR had been destroyed from 2014 till date. The sites were turned into parks or parking lots.

The reason quoted by the authorities behind this campaign is “social safety”. Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) published a report titled “Demolishing Faith: The Destruction and Desecration of Uyghurs Mosques and Shrines,” which uses geolocation and other techniques to show that anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000 mosques, shrines, and other religious sites in the region were destroyed between 2016 and 2019.

People are approaching government and other muslim organisations to take action against China for this 'desecration'.

Uyghurs Muslims are forced to live in deplorable conditions and made to work in factories. They are sometimes forced to eat pork and drink alcohol. All this is a part of big picture wherein, China want to abolish this minority race completely from their country.