Independent investigation of politically motivated violence in Uighur region of China demanded

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has called for an independent and comprehensive investigation of the politically motivated violence in northwestern China that has claimed at least 33 lives in the past 10 days. "We are deeply concerned about the worsening situation in the Uighur region of Xinjiang (East Turkestan), which is becoming more of a powder keg each day," the human rights organization has stated in a communication to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. "The official versions of events are so contradictory that nobody can believe them. The UN must act urgently to prevent further escalation of the violence."

Most recently, on Sunday in the Uighur city of Kashgar at least eight people are said to have been killed, and media reports indicate that seven others were killed on Saturday. On July 21 at least 18 people, including 14 Uighurs, were victims of violent attacks in the city of Hotan. "The Chinese authorities always give Uighurs the blame for the violence," reported Ulrich Delius of the STP's Asia section. The reports made available so far about the most recent incidents, however, are extremely contradictory. "Some say the perpetrators threw bombs, some say they stabbed passers by with knives or drove a truck into a crowd." Some official Chinese media changed their version of events within just a few hours.

Chinese authorities blamed "terrorists" for the violence. "But many indicators suggest that these acts of violence are more an expression of the anger and desperation felt by Muslims in the region, rather than targeted terror attacks from outside the country," said Delius. In the past year and a half, the Chinese regime has torn down some 70 percent of the Kashgar old town, traditionally populated solely by Uighurs, to alter the city's demographics and gain more control of Uighur residents. Several thousand cameras had already been installed to nip any protest in the bud.

"We now fear more arrests in Kashgar and a renewed increase in the violence," said Delius. "The most recent deaths, however, mark a severe setback in China's efforts to purchase silence from the Uighurs in exchange for more investments and an improved standard of living." For example, Kashgar was declared a free trade zone and investments in the city are being sought internationally. "Today, the region is in a state of emergency and any potential investor would carefully consider whether or not the situation in Xinjiang is really as "quiet and stable" as a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry declared it to be on 4 July 2011."