China bans Ramadan fasting in mainly Muslim region
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China has banned civil servants, students and teachers in its mainly
Muslim Xinjiang region from fasting during Ramadan and ordered
restaurants to stay open.
Most Muslims are required to fast from dawn to dusk during the holy
month, which began on Thursday, but China's ruling Communist party is
officially atheist and for years has restricted the practice in
Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority.
"Food service workplaces will operate normal hours during Ramadan,"
said a notice posted last week on the website of the state Food and Drug
Administration in Xinjiang's Jinghe county.
Officials in the region's Bole county were told: "During Ramadan do
not engage in fasting, vigils or other religious activities," according
to a local government website report of a meeting this week.
Each year, the authorities' attempt to ban fasting among Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang receives widespread criticism from rights groups.
Uighur rights groups say China's restrictions on Islam in Xinjiang
have added to ethnic tensions in the region, where clashes have killed
hundreds in recent years.
China says it faces a "terrorist threat" in Xinjiang, with officials blaming "religious extremism" for the growing violence.
"China's goal in prohibiting fasting is to forcibly move Uighurs away
from their Muslim culture during Ramadan," said Dilxat Rexit, a
spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress.
"Policies that prohibit religious fasting is a provocation and will only lead to instability and conflict."
As in previous years, school children were included in directives limiting Ramadan fasting and other religious observances.
The education bureau of Tarbaghatay city, known as Tacheng in
Chinese, this month ordered schools to communicate to students that
"during Ramadan, ethnic minority students do not fast, do not enter
mosques ... and do not attend religious activities".
Similar orders were posted on the websites of other Xinjiang education bureaus and schools.
Officials in the region's Qiemo county this week met local religious
leaders to inform them there would be increased inspections during
Ramadan in order to "maintain social stability", the county's official
website said.
Ahead of the holy month, one village in Yili, near the border with
Kazakhstan, said mosques must check the identification cards of anyone
who comes to pray during Ramadan, according to a notice on the
government's website.
The Bole county government said that Mehmet Talip, a 90-year-old
Uighur Communist Party member, had promised to avoid fasting and vowed
to "not enter a mosque in order to consciously resist religious and
superstitious ideas".
Source: AFP
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