US Bans Chinese Forced Labour Products Made By Uyghur Muslims But Muslim Nations Remain Silent
Islamic
Countries Have Not Spoken On The Issue
Main
Points:
1. Church of
Sweden had raised its voice against Uyghur forced labour.
2. Pakistan
supported China on the issue of forced Uyghur labour.
3. US companies
need to verify if the cotton products from China are free from Uyghur forced
labour.
4. In the UN
Muslim countries sided with China in 2019 on Uyghur issue.
----
Chinese and US flags flutter outside
the building of an American company in Beijing on January 21, 2021. © Tingshu
Wang, Reuters
----
By New Age Islam Staff Writer
28 December 2021
The US
President Joe Biden signed on the bill banning Chinese forced labour products
made by the Uyghur Muslims of Xinjiang province of China. After the passing of
the bill, the US companies importing cotton and cotton products from China will
have to verify that those are not forced labour products made by Uyghur Muslims
who have been detained in detention centres in the Xinjiang province for the
last six years. It should be recalled that the Chinese government has detained
about one million Uyghur Muslims in detention camps which it calls re-education
centres. The Muslims are tortured to abandon their religion and learn Mandarin
and communist ideology. Women are tortured and rendered infertile. They are
even raped and forced to go for abortion.
The US had
termed Uyghur persecution by China as genocide in January this year and had
called for boycott of Winter Olympics in February 2022. Earlier, the US
imported tomatoes and cotton products from China.
The Uyghur
Muslims are forced to work in cotton plantations and in factories without
wages. According to reports, about half million Uyghur Muslims are forced to
work in cotton plantations. The cotton products made by them are exported to
many countries earning the Chinese government huge profits at the cost of the
human rights of Uyghur Muslims.
The US has
taken this step before the Winter Olympics to be held in January 2022 as a
diplomatic effort to pressurize China to prevent Chinese government form human
rights violations of the Uyghurs. Unfortunately, Islamic countries have been
silent on this issue. It is also to be noted
that no Islamic country has commended the US for banning Chinese goods.
On the
contrary, some Islamic countries have defended the Chinese oppression of
Muslims saying that they do not believe in the incarceration theory of the
US. For example, the Pakistani Prime
Minister Imran Khan said that he does not believe that cotton products of China
are products of forced labour of Uyghur Muslims. He said that it was a
propaganda of the US and European countries against China. He also stressed
that the cotton trade with China will continue unabated.
The
Pakistani trade bodies have also stressed that their trade with China will go
on despite the ‘US propaganda’. It is to be noted that Pakistan has earlier
denied any oppression of Uyghur Muslims in China. Imran Khan had said to a
Turkish TV channel two years ago that he had no idea of the Uyghur issue. Saudi
Arabi had gone even to the extent of saying that China had every right to take
any step against Uyghur for preventing terrorism.
It is a
slap on the face of Islamic countries and Islamic organizations which cry
hoarse on the issue of blasphemy and issue trade boycott against non-Islamic
governments. For example, Islamic organizations had called for French products
after the French President Macron had said that Islam was in crisis. Violent
protests were held in Pakistan and Bangladesh in which police personnel had
been killed by protesters and public property had been destroyed.
But the
issue of persecution and forced labour of the Uyghur Muslims by China does not
stir their conscience. The Church of Sweden was disturbed by the persecution of
Uyghurs and warned importers to abstain from doing trade with China if forced
labour was involved.
However,
the Muslims countries and Islamic organizations have not issued any fatwa
against Uyghur forced labour though forced labour is not permitted in the
Quran. The Quran asks Muslims to give fair treatment to prisoners and slaves
and does not permit anyone to hold any individual prisoner without any cause.
Still the Islamic organizations and fatwa bodies of Islamic organizations of
countries like the Egypt and Saudi Arabia have not issued any fatwas calling
for economic boycott of China.
Even the
Turkish President Erdogan has not spoken anything praising the US step and expressing
his country’s stand on the issue. Earlier Erdogan showed concern for the
Uyghurs and even protested against China leading to bitter diplomatic relations
between the two countries. Uyghurs look up to Turkey for help as they are of
the Turkic ethnicity. In 2009, Erdogan even visited Xinjiang and termed the
persecution of Uyghurs ‘genocide’. But much has changed since now.
Erdogan
has, it seems, left Uyghurs to their fate for economic and political reasons.
Earlier, Uyghurs were granted asylum and resident permits in Turkey but now the
Uyghur homer are regularly raided and Uyghurs are deported back to China.
This is
because of Erdogan’s dream of becoming the powerful leader of the Islamic world
and fort that he needs to strengthen his hold in Turkey. The floundering
economy has made him look for Russian and Chinese support. This is why Uyghurs
do not get the kind of support from Turkey they once did.
The grand
mufti of Egypt or Saudi Arabia has not issued any fatwa condemning persecution
of Uyghurs and Uyghur forced labour. Islamic countries have not imposed ban on
Chinese cotton products to save Uyghurs from forced labour not to speak of
making efforts to free them or give them asylum. The Islamic countries have no
plan for the solution of the Uyghur problems. Instead, they have turned a blind
eye to their persecution. Worse, they defend China on the issue.
The
insensitivity of Muslim countries on the Uyghur persecution issue can be gauged
from the fact that in 2019, Germany sent a letter to the UN Human Rights
Council condemning Chinese persecution of ethnic minorities and calling China
to respect the human rights of ethnic minorities. The letter was supported and
signed by 39 countries out of which most countries were non-Islamic countries.
The list of the countries that signed in favour of the letter is as follows:
Albania,
Australia, Austria, Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland,
Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Marshall
Islands, Monaco, Nauru, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway,
Palau, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom, and the United States.
You can see
that Islamic countries are promiscuous by their absence. On the other hand Cuba
had sent a letter in support of Chinese policies in Xinjiang which was
supported and signed by 45 countries. The list of the supporters of China is as
follows:
Angola,
Bahrain, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, the Central African Republic,
China, Comoros, Congo, Cuba, Dominica, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea,
Gabon, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Kiribati, Laos, Madagascar,
Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia,
Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, the
UAE, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.(The names of Muslim countries are in
bold).
In the list
of countries that supported Chinese policies in Xinjiang, some prominent
powerful Islamic countries are included. Instead of condemning and protesting against
the Chinese persecution of Uyghurs, they defended China for their economic and
political interests while Christian and non-Muslim countries condemned Chinese
persecution of Uyghurs and its overall policy against the ethnic minorities in
Xinjiang.
This points
to a very disturbing attitude of Islamic countries on the issue of Uyghurs. It
is only the non-Muslim and Christian countries and societies that have spoken
in favour of the Uyghur Muslims while the Islamic countries and Islamic
organisations have chosen to remain silent for political reasons.
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