Opinion | Pakistan’s blind spot
1 min read 27 Sep 2019, 03:16 PM ISTFor a country that loses no opportunity to portray itself as a defender of the rights of Muslims in J&K, the blind eye it turns to the plight of Uighur Muslims in China reveals Pakistan’s hypocrisy
PremiumAlice Wells, US acting assistant secretary for South and Central Asia, has a question for Pakistan. Why does it talk about the condition of Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and not about Uighur Muslims in China who are facing “concentration [camp]-like conditions"? While it is clear that Islamabad has no locus standi to speak about an internal matter of India, as the well-being of people in J&K is, it is no less obvious that Pakistan’s relations with Beijing increasingly determine the country’s foreign policy, something the US can hardly be expected to overlook.
For a country that loses no opportunity to portray itself as a defender of the rights of Muslims in J&K, the blind eye it turns to the plight of Uighur Muslims in China reveals Pakistan’s hypocrisy. The People’s Republic has detailed large numbers of this religious minority in its so-called “re-education camps", where all sorts of human rights violations are reportedly taking place in the name of ridding them of extremism.
Earlier this week, a non-profit organization called China Tribunal accused the country at the United Nations Human Rights Council of widespread harvesting of vital organs such as hearts, kidneys and lungs from members of its Falun Gong and Uighur minority groups. Even though China has always refuted such allegations, neutral observers say that there is enough reason to suspect that people are being treated as warm bodies for exploitation. Such charges ought to attract global attention, and if found to be true, Beijing must be called upon by the UN to cease, desist, and explain itself.
