US & TERRORISM IN XINJIANG
by B. Raman
The annual report on the Patterns of Global Terrorism
during 2001 of the Counter-Terrorism Division of the US State
Department states as follows on China's contribution to the war of the
international coalition against terrorism:
2. "Chinese officials strongly condemned the
September 11 attacks and announced China would strengthen cooperation with
the international community in fighting terrorism on the basis of the UN
Charter and international law. China voted in support of both UN
Security Council resolutions after the attack. Its vote for
Resolution 1368 marked the first time it has voted in favor of authorizing
the international use of force. China also has taken a constructive
approach to terrorism problems in South and Central Asia, publicly
supporting the Coalition campaign in Afghanistan and using its influence
with Pakistan to urge support for multinational efforts against the
Taliban and al-Qaida. China and the United States began a counterterrorism dialogue in late-September, which was followed by further
discussions during Ambassador Taylor’s (Francis Taylor, the State
Department's Counter-Terrorism Co-Ordinator) trip in December to
Beijing. The September 11 attacks added urgency to discussions held
in Washington, DC, Beijing, and Hong Kong. The results have been
encouraging and concrete; the Government of China has approved
establishment of an FBI Legal Attache in Beijing and agreed to create
US-China counterterrorism working groups on financing and law enforcement.
3. "In the wake of the attacks, Chinese authorities
undertook a number of measures to improve China’s counterterrorism
posture and domestic security. These included increasing its
vigilance in Xinjiang, western China, where Uighur separatist groups have
conducted violent attacks in recent years, to include increasing the
readiness levels of its military and police units in the region.
China also bolstered Chinese regular army units near the borders with
Afghanistan and Pakistan to block terrorists fleeing from Afghanistan and
strengthening overall domestic preparedness. At the request of the
United States, China conducted a search within Chinese banks for evidence
to attack terrorist financing mechanisms.
4. "A number of bombing attacks—some of which
were probably separatist-related—occurred in China in 2001. Bomb
attacks are among the most common violent crimes in China due to the
scarcity of firearms and the wide availability of explosives for
construction projects.
5. "China has expressed concern that Islamic
extremists operating in and around the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region
who are opposed to Chinese rule received training, equipment, and
inspiration from al-Qaida, the Taliban, and other extremists in
Afghanistan and elsewhere. Several press reports claimed that
Uighurs trained and fought with Islamic groups in the former Soviet Union,
including Chechnya.
6. "Two groups in particular are cause for concern:
the East Turkestan Islamic Party (ETIP) and the East Turkestan Liberation
Organization (or Sharki Turkestan Azatlik Tashkilati, known by the acronym
SHAT). ETIP was founded in the early 1980s with the goal of
establishing an independent state of Eastern Turkestan and advocates armed
struggle. SHAT’s members have reportedly been involved in various
bomb plots and shootouts.
7. "Uighurs were found fighting with al-Qaida in
Afghanistan. We are aware of credible reports that some Uighurs who were
trained by al-Qaida have returned to China.
8. "Previous Chinese crackdowns on ethnic Uighurs
and others in Xinjiang raised concerns about possible human-rights
abuses. The United States has made clear that a counterterrorism
campaign cannot serve as a substitute for addressing legitimate social and
economic aspirations," the report concluded.
9. This positive portrayal of the Chinese contribution
to the war against international terrorism was, however, not reflected in
any action by the US against any terrorist groups of concern to
China. No known terrorist/extremist organisation of Xinjiang figures
in either the list of 33 designated Foreign Terrorist Organisations or in
the list of other terrorist organisations not so designated appended to
the State Department report. No organisation or individual connected
with acts of terrorism in Xinjiang figures in the list updated as on July
18,2002, of suspected individuals or organisations against whom financial
sanctions (freezing of accounts) are to be enforced by banks.
10. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the Abu
Sayyaf of the southern Philippines have been designated as Foreign
Terrorist Organisations under the US law of 1996, but not the
Eastern Turkestan Islamic Party, though all the three are members of
Osama bin Laden's International Islamic Front For Jehad Against the
USA and Israel. In initiating action, either for designation as a
Foreign Terrorist Organisation or for action under the UN Security Council
Resolution No. 1373 in respect of bank accounts, the US and the European
Union have focussed essentially on terrorist organisations, which are
perceived by them as international in nature or which are seen as posing a
threat to their nationals and interests. Terrorist organisations
viewed by them as purely indigenous have been excluded. These multiple
yardsticks have been used vis-a-vis China as well as India.
11. Thus, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the
Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), all three
Pakistan-based, have been designated as Foreign Terrorist
Organisations and the Harkat-ul-Jehad-Al-Islami (HUJI), also
Pakistan-based, figures in the list of other terrorist organisations not
so designated, but indigenous Kashmiri terrorist organisations such as the
Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), the Hizbul Mujahideen (HM)
etc have escaped action. Action has also been taken against the
Babbar Khalsa and the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF),
apparently because of their past involvement in acts of terrorism outside
Indian territory such as the explosion on board the Kanishka plane of Air
India in June,1985 and the attempt to kill Indian Ambassador Ribeiro in
Bucharest in 1991, but the other Sikh terrorist organisations such as the
Khalistan Commando Force have been excluded.
12. Despite China's support to the international
coalition against terrorism led by the US, Washington continues to
maintain its ambivalence vis-a-vis the Uighur separatist groups and avoids
identifying them as terrorists as Beijing would like it to do.
After a meeting at Beijing on December 6, 2001, with Chinese Vice Foreign
Ministers Li Zhaoxing and Wang Yi, Francis Taylor, the Counter-terrorism Co-ordinator of the US State Department, said:
"The legitimate economic and social issues that confront the people
in Western China are not necessarily terrorist issues and should be
resolved politically rather than using counterterrorism methods."
13. After October 7, 2001, the Chinese Government, which
previously had been playing down the frequent incidents of violence in the
Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR), started playing them up and
projecting them as due to East Turkestan terrorists, who formed part of
the international terrorism network and hence should be a legitimate
target of the international coalition. It repeatedly urged that the
Uighurs captured by the US in Afghanistan should be handed over to the
Chinese authorities for trial as terrorists, a request which has not yet
been accepted by the US. Addressing a press conference at Beijing in
the beginning of November, 2001,Zhang Qiyue, a spokeswoman for China's
Foreign Ministry, claimed that there were hundreds of Uighurs in
Afghanistan. The "Xinjiang Daily" published a detailed report on
acts the Government considered as "terrorism" in Xinjiang over
the past decade. She said that the "East Turkestan"
terrorist force had close links with international terrorist forces and
that "at least several hundred of these separatist-minded
terrorists" once received training in Afghanistan. She added
that China was willing to make joint efforts with the international
community to fight against all manners of terrorism, "including the
'East Turkestan' terrorist force."
14. Following the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation (APEC) Forum held in Shanghai after the start of the US
operations in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, Chinese President Jiang Zemin
said: "Terrorism should be cracked down upon, whenever and wherever
it occurs, whoever organizes it, whoever is targeted and whatever forms it
takes. "Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said during the APEC
summit in Shanghai that the Al Qaeda had even sent some of the East
Turkestan terrorists to fight in Chechnya. Official Chinese
media reported that during their meeting on the fringes of the APEC
summit, Jiang and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed that
"Chechnya and East Turkestan terrorist activities are part of
international terrorism."
15. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao urged
during a media briefing that the international community "should hold
a uniform stance and consistent attitude in opposing and combating
international terrorism. " Apparently to satisfy the Chinese,
the statement on terrorism issued by the APEC summit condemned
"murderous deeds as well as other terrorist acts in all forms and
manifestations, committed wherever, whenever and by whomsoever.
" However, in remarks to the media before and after a bilateral
meeting with Jiang in Shanghai, President Bush reiterated the US position
as follows without specifically referring to Uighur terrorism:"The
war on terrorism must never be an excuse to persecute minorities;"
"ethnic minorities must know that their rights will be
safeguarded-that their churches, temples and mosques belong to them."
16. Briefing the media in Beijing after a party
conference on March,11, 2002, Abdulait Abuderexit, the Chairman of the
Xinjiang provincial Administration, made the following points:
* Separatists in Xinjiang at home or
abroad got both material and financial support from some extreme terror
organizations abroad, and violent actions that had taken place in
Xinjiang received financial aid from overseas.
* "During the US anti-terror war in
Afghanistan, we did find some separatists in Xinjiang who joined some
training programs abroad. Chinese police had caught some
terrorists who returned to Xinjiang secretly after receiving training in
the terrorist camps of Afghanistan and some other countries. The
police of those countries concerned had also extradited and handed some
of those terrorists to China."
* The paper on the East Turkestan
terrorist forces issued by the State Council Information Office had made
it clear that various terrorist activities had been under way in
Xinjiang since the 1950s. Incomplete statistics showed that from
1990 to 2001, the East Turkestan terrorist forces inside and outside
Chinese territory were responsible for over 200 terrorist incidents in
Xinjiang, resulting in the deaths of 162 people of all ethnic groups,
including grass-roots officials and religious personnel, and injuries to
more than 440 people.
17. There are nearly a hundred organisations, which keep
popping up from time to time claimimg to represent different sections of
the Uighurs in Xinjiang as well as outside and to be fighting on their
behalf. It is difficult to say whether all such organisations exist
in reality or whether many of these are merely letter-head organisations,
which exist only on paper. India faced a similar situation in Jammu
& Kashmir in the early 1990s when nearly a hundred organisations
popped up overnight. Most of these were subsequently found to be
figments of imagination.
18. Amongst the major terrorist/extremist organisations
of Xinjiang identified so far are the Eastern Turkestan Islamic
Party, the Eastern Turkestan People's Revolutionary Party, the Eastern
Turkestan Independence Organization, the Eastern Turkestan Grey Wolf
Party, the Eastern Turkestan Liberation Front ,the Islamic Movement of
Eastern Turkestan, which could be identical with the Eastern Turkestan
Islamic Party, the Home of East Turkestan Youth, which is described by
some analysts as the Hamas of Xinjiang,as highly motivated and as radical
as the Hamas, the Turkey-based East Turkestan National Center, headed by
by Reza Berken, a retired Uighur Colonel of the Turkish Army, and
the Committee for Eastern Turkestan, based in Kazakhstan.
19. The Eastern Turkestan Islamic Party (Sharki
Turkistan Islam Partiyesi), based in the cities of Kashgar and Hoten, is
supported mainly by religious fundamentalist elements, conservative forces
and some farmers. The Eastern Turkestan Revolutionary Party (Sharki
Turkistan Inkalavi Partiyesi), in Urumchi and Ghulja, claims the support
of writers, progressive students and other intellectuals. The
Eastern Turkestan Independence Organization (Sharki Turkistan Azatlik
Teshkilati) is centered in Hoten. It claims the support of some
young farmers, unemployed Uighurs and young officials. The Eastern
Turkestan Grey Wolf Party (Sharki Turkistan Bozkurt Partiyesi) used to
have some following in Urumchi. It is believed in
Xinjiang that the Uighurs descended from a wolf and hence its name.
This party, reportedly backed by teachers,students and other
intellectuals, was said to be Turkic-oriented. The Eastern Turkestan
Liberation Front (Sharki Turkistan Azatlik Fronti) reportedly has a
presence in the cities of Turfan and Kumul and is supported by unemployed
Uighur youth, farmers and intellectuals. Of these organisations,
only the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Party and the Home of East Turkestan
Youth seem to be oriented towards religious extremism and
pan-Islamism. The relative support enjoyed by these organisations
amongst the local people and their respective roles in acts of violence in
Xinjiang are difficult to establish.
20. Some of these organisations have ideological and
possibly even operational link-ups with the Hizb-e Tehrir (HT) or
Party of Liberation, which is not based in Xinjiang and which
projects itself, without convincing proof, as the largest and the
most popular Islamic movement with following in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and
Kyrgyzstan and which has been fighting to establish an Islamic
Caliphate in the historical region once known as Turkestan, encompassing
the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China, often referred to
as Eastern Turkestan, and the Central Asian Republics (CARS), referred to
as Western Turkestan. They are also reported to have links with the
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which, according to Russian media reports
not independently corroborated, has re-named itself since June, 2001, as
the Hizb-i-Islami Turkestan, or the Islamic Party of Turkestan, and
re-formulated its objective as the creation of an Islamic republic
out of the five Central Asian Republics and the XUAR of China.
21. The problem of terrorism/religious extremism faced
by China in Xinjiang has certain similarities with that faced by
India in the Punjab in the past and in J&K presently. The first
similarity relates to the role of some members of the diaspora in
fomenting terrorism. In India, Sikh terrorism in the Punjab was
initially started by some members of the Sikh diaspora in Canada, the USA,
the UK and other Western countries, with the encouragement of Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the USA's Defence Intelligence
Agency (DIA) during the Nixon Administration, but it could never gather
much support from amongst the Sikh population of Punjab. This
facilitated the counter-terrorism operations of the Punjab Police.
On the contrary, terrorism in J&K was initially started by indigenous
elements with the support of the Kashmiris in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK),
with very little involvement of the Kashmiri (essentially Mirpuri)
diaspora in the West. In Xinjiang, the role of the Uighur diaspora
in the Central Asian Republics (CARs), Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the West
in fomenting terrorist violence and political destabilisation has been as
considerable as in the case of the Sikh diaspora in the Indian
Punjab.
22. The Uighur organisations claim that there are
presently about 500,000 Uighurs living in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. About 200,000 of
them are in Kazakhstan of whom a half live in Almaty. It is alleged
that an umbrella organisation called the Inter-State Uighur Union (Uygurlarning
Devletlerara Ittifaki), headed by Kahraman Gojamberdi, acts as the
front organisation of the Europe-based Eastern Turkestani Union in the
CARs and mobilises the support of the diaspora for the so-called struggle
against Beijing through an Eastern Turkestani Fund and an
International Eastern Turkestani Coordination Center.
23. Beijing has been particularly concerned over what it
apparently perceives as the failure of the authorities of Kyrgyzstan to
act effectively against Uighur trouble-makers from Kyrgyz territory.
In 1998, Uighurs in Kyrgyzstan staged a protest demonstration
against China in Bishkek. In a protest note to the Kyrgyzstan government,
Pan Chan Lin, the Chinese Ambassador, said that "certain forces
in Kyrgyzstan are harboring subversive aims against China" and
that "this kind of subversive activity on the soil of Kyrgyzstan will
harm the warm friendship between Bishkek and Beijing. " In
March 2000, the head of the Uighur community in Kyrgyzstan, Nigmat Bazakov,
was assassinated, according to Kyrygz officials, for refusing to back an
Uighur separatist group. Last January, a court in Kyrgyzstan
condemned to death an Uzbek militant fighting alongside Uighur separatists
for Bazakov's murder. On July 1, 2002, a Chinese diplomat posted in
Bishkek and his driver were reportedly assassinated. It is not yet
clear who was responsible for the assassination.
24. The second similarity relates to the external causes
of aggravation of the terrorist violence in Xinjiang. Just as in J
& K, in Xinjiang too, there are two distinct terrorist/extremist
movements---one resorting to violence on ethnic grounds to assert the
Uighur ethnic identity against the perceived Han Chinese domination and
the other using religious and pan-Islamic arguments to justify violence
for the establishment of an independent Islamic State. While the
ethnic separatist elements have been the beneficiaries of sympathy and
support from the Dalai Lama's set-up and the Tibetan diaspora abroad, and
the US, Taiwanese and Turkish intelligence agencies, the religious
fundamentalist elements have been in receipt of support from the
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)-backed jehadi organisations in Pakistan,
the Taliban and bin Laden's International Islamic Front For Jehad Against
the USA and Israel.
25. In the 1970s and the 1980s, the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) of the USA had built up a network of contacts with the Uighur
separatist elements and some of those, who had in the past worked for the
Munich-based Radio Liberty of the CIA such as Erkin Alptekin, chairman of
the Europe-based Eastern Turkestani Union and a close Uighur
associate of the Dalai Lama, are now in the forefront of the ethnic
separatist movement.
26. On October 16, 1998, what was billed as the First
International Conference of the Allied Committee of the Peoples of Eastern
Turkestan, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia was held at the Columbia
University in New York. Some officials of the Clinton
administration and some pro-Dalai Lama members of the US Congress
were amongst the 100 participants. Rinchen Darlo, the New York
representative of the Dalai Lama, opened the conference and read out
messages from the Dalai Lama and Isa Yusuf Alptekin (since dead), father
of Erkin Alptekin. The Dalai Lama expressed his support for the
Allied Committee and said in his message: "Though Mongolians and
Tibetans share a common religion and religious heritage, our ties to the
people of Eastern Turkestan are no less. Our three peoples are tied
together by geography and history, and these days unfortunately by the
Chinese occupation of our countries. During the last few years we
have seen momentous changes come to the world. The Soviet empire has
collapsed, and in its wake many formerly oppressed nations have regained
their freedom and independence... In view of these changes, I remain
optimistic that not too far in the future the true aspirations of the
peoples of Eastern Turkestan, Inner Mongolia and Tibet will be fulfilled,
and I am confident that the people of Eastern Turkestan, Inner Mongolia
and Tibet will contribute to peace, prosperity and stability of not only
China, but Asia as a whole."
27. The late Isa Yusuf Alptekin, based in Turkey,
said in his message:" The peoples of Eastern Turkestan, Tibet and
Inner Mongolia believe that the United States is in an unique position to
play an important role in this matter. Therefore, I kindly request
the people of the United States, the United States Congress, the
Administration and the press to give due ear to the free voice of our
peoples - the Allied Committee. I have devoted my entire life to
bring the plight of my peoples to the attention of the Free World. I
am almost 95 years old, have lost my eyesight, and God only knows how long
I have to live. But one thing is very clear to me: even if I pass
away the Allied Committee under the leadership of His Holiness the Dalai
Lama, our common spokesman, my brother and my sincere friend, will carry
on the non-violent struggle of the peoples of Eastern Turkestan, Tibet and
Inner Mongolia with strong determination."
28. Erkin Alptekin,the first Chairman of the Allied
Committee, urged the USA to persuade the Chinese leadership to begin
negotiations to defuse the tense situation in Eastern Turkestan, Tibet and
Inner Mongolia peacefully and to the mutual satisfaction of all
parties. He called on the UN to send a fact-finding mission to these
areas. He also called on the Chinese leaders to sit down with
representatives from Eastern Turkestan, Tibet and Inner Mongolia in an
effort to encourage stability and prosperity among the Chinese people and
freedom and happiness among the peoples of these three countries. Amongst
others who spoke were Foreign Minister Tenzing Tethong of the Exile
Government of Tibet,the President of the Inner Mongolia League for the
Defense of Human Rights, Shobsood Temsiltu, Prof. James Seymore of
the Columbia University, Professor Yan Jia-qi also of the Columbia
University, Prof. Robert Thurman, also of the Columbia University, Dr.
Shevket Karaduman, president of the Federation of Turkish American
Associations, Omer Kanat, a representative of Eastern Turkestan, Gyaltsen
Gyaltag, representative of the Dalai Lama in Europe, and Lodi Gyari,
Special Envoy of the Dalai Lama in Washington DC.
29. In February,1998, Anwar Yusuf, President of the
Eastern Turkistan National Freedom Center, visited Taiwan at the
invitation of the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations, reportedly a
US-based organisation, along with Erkin Alptekin; Professor Thubtin Jigme
Norbu, elder brother of the Dalai Lama; Tashi Jamyangling, former
Home Secretary of the Tibetan Government in exile; and Johnar Bache, Vice
Chairman of the Southern Mongolian People's Party. They met Liu
Sung-pan, the then President of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan; Shui-Bian Chen,
the then Mayor of Taipei; and Frank C.T. Hsieh, the then Mayor of Kaosiung.
30. The Turkish intelligence has allegedly been funding
the World Turkic Friendship, Brotherhood and Cooperation Conference held
periodically to highlight the Turkic identity.
31. Despite publicly unarticulated concerns over the
encouragement received by the ethnic separatist elements from governmental
and non-governmental organisations in the USA and the European Union
member-States, the Chinese have been co-operating with the US in its war
against terrorism in Afghanistan in the hope that the success of the US
counter-terrorism strikes against the Taliban and the Al Qaeda could help
them in their own operations against the pan-Islamic elements in Xinjiang.
They have reasons to be concerned over the dregs of the Al Qaeda and other
members of the International Islamic Front gravitating towards POK and the
Northern Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan) as this could add to their security
problems in Xinjiang. The recent grenade attack in Pakistan
by suspected pro-bin Laden terrorists on a party of German and
other tourists travelling by the Karakoram Highway to Xinjiang would
indicate the presence of some of these dregs in the vicinity of Pakistan's
border with Xinjiang.
32. Despite their support to the USA in its war against
terrorism, the Chinese are concerned over the possibility of the USA
taking advantage of the war to establish a permanent military and
intelligence presence in the CARs as this would enable the US intelligence
agencies to keep alive the ethnic separatist elements in Xinjiang by
working through the Uighur diaspora in the CARs. However, the
Chinese have not yet openly expressed these concerns.
33. It is difficult to quantify the extent of the
influence of bin Laden and his International Islamic Front on the
pan-Islamic elements in Xinjiang. The Chinese themselves have been
estimating the number of Uighurs trained in Afghanistan by the Taliban and
the Al Qaeda before October 7, 2001, as about 1,000, but this appears to be
an over-estimation. On the basis of the present evidence from
Pakistan, the number cannot be more than 100.
34. India should have reasons to be concerned over the
Dalai Lama's hobnobbing with the pan-Islamic elements in Xinjiang.
One cannot avoid suspecting that the influence of these elements must have
been behind his participation in a conference organised in Chennai last
year by some elements, which have been acting as apologists for
Gen.Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani military dictator, which was attended
by a representative of the Huryiat of J&K and a large number of
Pakistanis, some of them retired Pakistani military officers. The
Dalai Lama's set-up subsequently denied or played down some of the
controversial remarks attributed to him at the conference.
35. The Government of India should consider conveying to
the Dalai Lama its unhappiness and concern over his association with
pan-Islamic elements in Xinjiang.
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet
Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For
Topical Studies, Chennai. E-Mail: corde@vsnl.com
)
