The Islamic community in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) distances itself from the statements of the former Reisu-l-ulema Mustafa Ceric regarding China’s fight against terrorism directed against Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region.
“Neither Mustafa Ceric, nor the president of the Meshihat of the Islamic Community in Serbia, Mevlud Dudic, went to China on behalf of and in the organization of the Islamic Community. As far as we know, it was organized by an association from the United Arab Emirates,” mentioned Mustafa Prljaca, adviser to reis-l-ulema Husein Kavazovic.
Chinese media CGTN reported that more than 30 world-renowned Islamic experts and scholars from 14 countries visited Urumqi, the capital of northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, on January 8th at the invitation of the local government.
The former reis in BiH Ceric was among them, who, as CGTN writes, “praised the Chinese policy of fighting terrorism and de-radicalization for achieving peace and harmony in the region”.
He also emphasized that the Islamic community in BiH has data that is not in accordance with what Ceric and Dudic said in China when it comes to Muslims in China.
What is happening to the Uyghurs in China?
China has been accused of committing crimes against humanity and possible genocide against the Uyghur population and other mainly Muslim ethnic groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
Human rights groups believe that China has held more than one million Uyghurs against their will in the past few years in a vast network of what the state calls “re-education camps” and sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison terms.
There is also evidence that Uyghurs are forced to work and that women are forcibly prevented from becoming pregnant, Radio Slobodna Evropa reports.
E.Dz.
