[Khan’s stance on the Uyghurs stands out amid his advocacy against Islamophobia in the region. An outspoken advocate of discrimination against Muslims, Khan wrote last year a letter addressed to leaders of Muslim countries, urging that they work to “end cycles of violence bred of ignorance and hate.” Pakistan is the world’s second largest Muslim-majority country, after Indonesia.]
Much
of the international community had condemned the mass detention and efforts at
forced assimilation of Uyghurs, which the U.S. State Department has described
as “genocide.” More than 1 million Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority
group, have been sent to what Beijing calls “vocational educational and training
centers,” but which human rights groups say are detention camps, where
extensive abuses have been reported.
“Because
we have a very strong relationship with China, and because we have a
relationship based on trust, so we actually accept the Chinese version,”
Khan said in
remarks marking the Chinese Communist Party’s centennial celebration. “What
they say about the programs in Xinjiang, we accept it.”
Since
China launched a sweeping crackdown in Xinjiang in 2017, many human rights
advocates and world leaders have sounded alarm bells. The issue has gained
particular traction in many Muslim-majority countries.
But
not with Khan. Speaking to Chinese reporters visiting Islamabad for the centenary,
Khan said he finds it hypocritical that other human rights issues — such as the
conflict in Kashmir between India and China — are not afforded the same
attention.
[China
scrubs evidence of Xinjiang clampdown amid ‘genocide’ debate]
Khan’s
stance on the Uyghurs stands out amid his advocacy against Islamophobia in the
region. An outspoken advocate of discrimination against Muslims, Khan wrote last
year a letter addressed to leaders of Muslim countries, urging that they work
to “end cycles of violence bred of ignorance and hate.” Pakistan is the world’s
second largest Muslim-majority country, after Indonesia.
Analysts
said the remarks make sense in the context of Pakistan’s relationship with
China, on which it depends for political and economic support.
“Pakistan
just can’t afford to go against China on such a sensitive issue,” said Filippo
Boni, a scholar of China-Pakistan relations, “especially at a time when the
West is very much focused on the Uyghur issue.”
Announced
in 2015, one of the most conspicuous elements of the relationship is the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor — a $60
billion set of Chinese infrastructure investment in Pakistan, including
a $6.8 billion railway
upgrade and new highways, as part of the Belt and Road initiative.
Projects are still underway.
[Who
are the Uighurs, and what’s happening to them in China?]
During
the coronavirus pandemic, Pakistan was early to express solidarity with China,
and China has sent vaccine doses to Pakistan.
In
addition to his comments about Uyghurs, Khan praised China’s political system,
Al Jazeera reported.
“Up
until now, we were told that the best way for societies to improve themselves
is the Western system of democracy,” he said. But the CPC has brought an
“alternative” and “unique model.”
Khan
has voiced similar views in the past. When pressed by Axios’s Jonathan Swain
about his silence on the Uyghurs, Khan said any
issues Pakistan has with China are discussed “behind closed doors.”
