Rabat- China has banned the Uighur Muslim minority from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
Rabat- China has banned the Uighur Muslim minority from fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
Chinese authorities are reportedly forcing officials in the Xinjiang region not to fast during the month of Ramadan, which begins on Thursday.
Muslim party members, civil servants, students and teachers are forced to give assurances that they will not fast or attend religious activities during the holy month of Ramadan.
According to media reports, Muslim shops and restaurants have also been ordered to remain open during day hours in Ramadan and to sell cigarettes and alcoholic beverages or be shut down.
China also banned residents from wearing the burqa in public in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim region.
An estimated eight million Turkish-speaking Uighur Muslims live in the northwestern Xinjiang region.
Legislators in Urumqi, a city of 3.1 million people in the far western region of Xinjiang, barred women from wearing the garment in “an effort to curb growing religious extremism.”
“China is increasing its bans and monitoring as Ramadan approaches,” Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the World Uighur Congress (WUC), told Reuters news agency. “The faith of the Uighurs has been highly politicized, and the increase in controls could cause sharp resistance.”
Raxit told Radio Free Asia: “They [the Chinese government] are extracting guarantees from parents, promising that their children won’t fast on Ramadan.”
