Let better sense prevail in Xinjiang

When I asked Tusipbek, a Kazak photographer, what was the relationship among the different ethnic groups of Xinjiang like, he laughed and asked me how could I think there was a problem. "We are one family", said Tusipbek, who is fluent in Kazak, Chinese, Uygur and Mongolian languages.

Wu Mingzhu, a Han researcher on Hami melon, was born in Hubei province. During her long career of research into the melon, which gets its name from Xinjiang's Hami prefecture, she has been to many developed and attractive places but has never thought of settling anywhere other than the region. "I'm rooted in Xinjiang", she said, how can any place be better than Xinjiang.

I have been to Xinjiang several times, and each time I saw a "different" image of the place thanks to its fast economic development. During one such trip, I talked with Abdurakip, a respected imam, who said: "The role of an imam is to set an example for Muslims." Born into a rural family, he attended a Chinese-medium school but couldn't pass the national college entrance exam in 1979. His mother, though disappointed, was determined to make a useful man out of her son. "So when Deng Xiaoping, the engineer of reform and opening-up, declared that religious belief is a human right and a matter of personal choice, and that religious practice must be protected by the Chinese Constitution, I decided (with the help of my mother) to throw myself into the study of Islamic texts and become an imam to serve my people."

"We no longer live in the times of the 'cultural revolution' (1966-76) when religion was one of the old ideas that China had to get rid of," he said, reflecting the change in Uygur people's thinking.

Islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood. Those who read the Koran must distinguish between its fundamental teaching and its reflection of society at a determined historical moment.

I hope the Uygur terrorists will take into consideration their own interests and stop the dance of violence, and work for the development and prosperity of the country as whole. I also hope that a certain Western country, which loves policing the world but refuses to see its own mistakes, stops using double standards when it comes to condemn terrorist attacks on China.

The author is Canadian writer living in China.

(China Daily 07/03/2013 page9)