by Sidra Yousaf 14 March 2021
The Chinese government has reportedly detained at least one million people from the Muslim and Turkic-speaking ethnic group called Uighur in what it defines as re-education camps in China´s north-western region of Xinjiang. On his last day in office, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called out China for its systematic genocide campaign against the Uighurs.[i] The U.S. was followed by both Canada and the Netherlands, which passed non-binding motions in late February of this year declaring China’s treatment of the Uighurs to be genocide. Looking towards South Asia, Imran Khan, the current prime minister of Pakistan, has since entering office in 2018 been a prominent voice for Muslim rights across the world. Earlier this year he accused the French president Emmanuel Macron of “encouraging Islamophobia”[ii], while in another letter to Muslim heads of states urged for collective action against Islamophobia.[iii] Yet, the self-proclaimed defender of all Muslims remains silent while what has been termed as genocide in Xinjiang is continuing to unfold. How can such a gap in the response be explained?
According to various human rights organizations and people who have since fled China, prisoners are forced to pledge loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and reject Islam. Additionally, others have reported their experiences of torture in the form of sleep deprivation, sexual abuse, and rape, as well as the disruption of families where parents sent to these camps, are separated from their children, who are forced to remain in government-run orphanages.[iv] For a leader that strongly insists on never recognizing the state of Israel unless Palestinians are given an acceptable settlement,[v] accusing India of state sponsoring Islamophobia in his 2020 speech to the UNGA,[vi] in addition to shaming the world and especially other Muslim states for ignoring the suffering of the Rohingya population in Myanmar,[vii] it comes surprisingly easy for Imran Khan to ignore the plight of over one million Uighurs being forced to endure horrible conditions in Xinjiang. In fact, in July 2019 after a group of countries – none of which were Muslim-majority countries – condemned China´s treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang in a letter signed to the UN human rights chief, more than 30 states, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, signed their own letter praising China for its “remarkable human rights achievements” and counterterrorism efforts in Xinjiang.[viii]
The realities of the international political system are based on the realist argument that states’ foreign policies are largely characterized by the goal of maximizing state interests, so it makes sense that Khan would favour the economic benefits of a good relationship with Beijing. What is striking, however, is the vehemence with which Khan has sought to present himself as the voice of the global Muslim Ummah, but in the specific case of China’s Uighur minority, takes a rather large step backward. This is not to say that Pakistan has never been passive on serious human rights issues in order to increase the flow of money into the country. Take, for example, Pakistan’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia, the country currently responsible for the blockade of Yemen, which has led to a hunger crisis in addition to the domestic human rights problems within the country. Yet even in this case, Khan has, at least to some degree, attempted to offer services to mediate the Yemen conflict and portray himself as the great Muslim leader, stating that “it is very distressing for Muslims to see conflict among Muslim nations”[ix].
As a result, Khan’s utter silence and his deliberate neglect of Uighur suffering underscore not only the unequivocal stance he has taken on the Uighur issue but also the very deep ties he is trying to build with Beijing. Not to mention that China must be making some very strong and almost non-refusable offers to countries like Pakistan.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been one of the most ambitious parts of China´s Belt and Road Initiative, which was announced back in 2015 with great enthusiasm.[x] This has led to large-scale investment from Beijing into Pakistan, which is already grappling with Baluch nationalist unrest in the region where the project is being developed, in addition to a large foreign debt that has grown rapidly in recent years – providing Beijing with the perfect opportunity to build a dependent relationship with the country, which has long struggled to attract sustainable and long-term financial inflows such as foreign direct investment and an increase in exports.[xi] This is especially true since traditionally close allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan appear to have hit a bump in the road. Last year, for example, Saudi Arabia unusually pressured Pakistan to repay parts of its loans because Pakistan criticized the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for not taking enough action on the Kashmir issue, in addition to deepening relations between Saudi Arabia and India. [xii][xiii] Not to mention that Islamabad reportedly reached out to Beijing for a commercial loan to offset the Saudi Arabian pressure of repayment.[xiv] As long as China keeps pouring money and capital into Pakistan, all indications are that Imran Khan will unfortunately not speak up, delegitimizing the important cause of countering Islamophobia that he sought to raise awareness about to begin with.
In this context, the international Pakistani diaspora may be able to play an important role by putting aside proud nationalism and recognizing the double standards at play. On the one hand, Pakistan has a leader who wants to portray himself as the defender of Kashmiri Muslims from Indian aggression, while on the other hand, he remains completely silent on the suffering of over a million Uighurs. If it is necessary to defend Muslim brothers and sisters in the name of a single Muslim Ummah or simply in the name of solidarity – how can we allow the Uighurs not to be included? The diaspora can play a crucial role in helping to put outside pressure on Khan and his administration, something that other countries and organizations in the international system seem unable to do in the same manner. Khan himself stated that “our greatest asset is our overseas Pakistanis”[xv]. This shows that while Khan is indeed dependent on Chinese investments, there is no doubt that he has used a lot of effort in the last few years in trying to build closer connections with talented Pakistani diaspora, thus making the opinions of the latter group a consideration he cannot readily ignore.
Khan’s silence on the Uighur issue not only delegitimizes his entire effort to combat rising Islamophobia in the world but also affects his own country’s future prospects. The last thing a cash-strapped country like Pakistan, already grappling with a pandemic and political turmoil within its own borders amid a highly tense political climate in the region, needs is untenable political decisions. The people who will have to pay the price are not just the Uighurs and their own domestic population, but Muslims around the world who will have to come to terms with the fact that the leaders of the world’s Muslim majority countries are silent on what has been described as a 21st-century genocide of a Muslim minority in a seemingly increasing worldwide Islamophobic environment.
Sidra Yousaf is a student from Oslo, Norway. She received a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from the University of Oslo in 2020 and will begin a master’s degree in Modern South Asian Studies in fall 2021. Her research interests lie in the intersection between South Asia and international relations, and the effects of socio-cultural structures on Pakistani politics.
[i] BBC. “Who are the Uighurs and why is the US accusing China of genocide?” BBC/bbc.com. 09.02.2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-22278037.
[ii] Hashim, Asad. “Pakistan says Macron ‘encourages islamophobia’, summons envoy.” Al-Jazeera. 26.10.2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/26/pakistan-accuses-macron-of-encouraging.
[iii] Hashim, Asad. “Pakistan´s Imran Khan urges Muslim unity against Islamophobia.” Al-Jazeera. 29.10.2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/29/pakistans-khan-calls-for-muslim-unity-against-islamophobia.
[iv] Maizland, Lindsay. “Backgrounder: China´s Repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.” Council on Foreign Relations. Last updated: March 1, 2021. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-repression-uyghurs-xinjiang.
[v] Al-Jazeera. “Pakistan will not recognise Israel: PM Khan.” Al-Jazeera. 20.08.2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/8/20/pakistan-will-not-recognise-israel-pm-khan.
[vi] Al-Jazeera. “Indian gov´t sponsors Islamophobia’, Pakistan PM tells UN.” Al-Jazeera. 25.09.2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/25/pakistan-pm-khan-slams-india-over-kashmir-islamophobia.
[vii] Imran Khan, Twitter-post from 31.08.2020. Link: https://twitter.com/imrankhanpti/status/903235826603188224?lang=en.
[viii] Maizland, Lindsay. “Backgrounder: China´s Repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.” Council on Foreign Relations. Last updated: March 1, 2021. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-repression-uyghurs-xinjiang.
[ix] DAWN. “Imran calls for talks to end Saudi-Yemen dispute.” DAWN/Dawn.com. 21.09.2018. https://www.dawn.com/news/1434204.
[x] Notezai, Muhammad A. “What Happened to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor?” The Diplomat. 16.02.2021. https://thediplomat.com/2021/02/what-happened-to-the-china-pakistan-economic-corridor/.
[xi] DAWN. “Heavily in dept.” DAWN/Dawn.com. 19.12.2020. https://www.dawn.com/news/1596613.
[xii] DAWN. “Pakistan returns $1 billion of Saudi Arabia´s soft loan, officials say.” DAWN/Dawn.com. 16.12.2020. https://www.dawn.com/news/1596109.
[xiii] Tanvir, Ameena. “Can China Replace Saudi Arabia for Pakistan?” The Diplomat. 29.08.2020. https://thediplomat.com/2020/08/can-china-replace-saudi-arabia-for-pakistan/.
[xiv] DAWN. “Pakistan returns $1 billion of Saudi Arabia´s soft loan, officials say.” DAWN/Dawn.com. 16.12.2020. https://www.dawn.com/news/1596109.
[xv] Aziz, Saba. “Imran Khan, ‘new Pakistan’ and the diaspora dilemma.” Al-Jazeera. 18.08.2018. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/8/18/imran-khan-new-pakistan-and-the-diaspora-dilemma.