No One Defends the Uyghur Muslims

News:

The US has imposed visa sanctions on Thai officials for deporting 40 Uyghurs to China, where they face persecution. The US State Department aims to combat China's pressure on governments to return Uyghurs, who risk torture and enforced disappearances. Despite warnings from UN experts, Thailand deported the Uyghurs in February. The Uyghur Project welcomed the sanctions but criticized the international community's failure to protect the detainees. The US and Canada offered to resettle 48 Uyghurs, but Thailand feared upsetting China. The sanctions are intended to deter future deportations and hold officials accountable. (Source: abc.net.au)

Comment:

The Uyghur Muslim community remains in a state of perpetual insecurity, both within China and abroad. Domestically, they face severe restrictions on their religious freedom. During Ramadan, they are closely monitored to prevent them from fasting, and more than a million Uyghurs have been placed in so-called re-education camps, where they are forced to abandon Islam and its teachings in favor of Chinese nationalism and communist ideology.

Outside of China, Uyghurs also find no safe refuge. In countries that maintain strong ties with China, including Muslim-majority nations, they are often denied protection. Many Uyghurs flee China in search of safety for themselves and their religious identity, only to face deportation back to China. Incidents of forced deportation in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates demonstrate that even Muslim nations fail to stand in solidarity with Uyghurs. This can be understood within the context of these countries' political and economic relations with China.

The United States, which appears to advocate for the Uyghur issue, does not do so out of genuine concern for their human rights. Instead, the Uyghur issue serves as a political tool in the broader U.S.-China global competition. The U.S. uses this issue to stigmatize China and damage its international reputation. If not for the geopolitical rivalry with China, the U.S. would likely show little interest in the plight of the Uyghurs. This selective concern is evident when comparing Washington's passive stance on the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar and India, where it has taken no significant action to defend them.

At present, Islam and Muslims have become mere political objects for various global regimes. Leaders of Muslim-majority countries prioritize their own national interests and seek to maintain favorable relations with major powers such as China and the United States. Meanwhile, they turn a blind eye as their fellow Muslims are persecuted, oppressed, and even killed by the enemies of Islam, without taking meaningful steps to aid them.

This situation ultimately exposes the flaws of nationalism, an ideology that has dominated the Muslim world since the fall of the Caliphate (Khilafah) in 1924. Nationalism has fragmented the Muslim community, making them vulnerable both physically and mentally, and allowing major world powers to easily manipulate and weaken them.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Abdullah Aswar