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Afraid of Islam, China bans Ramadan fasting in Muslim region

[email protected] (Agencies)
June 7, 2016

Beijing, Jun 7: China has marked the start of Ramadan with its customary ban on civil servants, students and children in a mainly-Muslim region from taking part in fasting, government websites said as the holy month started on Monday.

fasting

China's ruling Communist party for years has banned government employees and minors from fasting in Xinjiang, home to the more than 10 million strong mostly Muslim Uighur minority. It has also ordered restaurants to stay open.

The region sees regular clashes between Uighurs and state security forces, and Beijing has blamed deadly attacks there and elsewhere in China on militants seeking independence for the resource-rich region.

Rights groups blame tensions on religious and cultural restrictions placed on Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in the vast area, which abuts Central Asia.

Several local government departments in Xinjiang posted notices on their websites in the last week ordering restrictions on fasting during Ramadan.

During the holy month, the faithful fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more pious.

"Party members, cadres, civil servants, students and minors must not fast for Ramadan and must not take part in religious activities," a notice posted Thursday on the government website of central Xinjiang's Korla city said.

"During the Ramadan month, food and drink businesses must not close," it added.

A Uighur official in the city's Tiekeqi township named Ahmatjan Tohti told a group of men wearing traditional doppa hats at a meeting last Monday that officials should "resolutely stop party members, civil servants, students and minors from entering mosques for religious activities" during the festival, a separate report posted on the website last Tuesday said.

A website run by the education bureau of the regional capital Urumqi's Shuimogou district posted a notice last Monday calling for "prevention of students and teachers from all schools from entering mosques for religious activities", during Ramadan.

In the northern city of Altay, officials agreed to "increase contact with parents", to "prevent fasting during Ramadan", according to a post Friday on the state-run China Ethnicities Religion website.

Meanwhile the website of the Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County government in northwest Xinjiang said Monday that restaurants in the area would be instructed to stay open during Ramadan to "ensure that the broader masses have normal access to cuisine".

Dilxat Raxit of the World Uyghur Congress, an exile group, condemned the restrictions in an email Monday, adding: "China thinks that the Islamic faith of Uighurs threatens the rule of the Beijing leadership".

China keeps tight control over religious groups, though Beijing often says it grants citizens broad freedom of belief.

China's State Council on Thursday released a white paper which declared that religious freedom in Xinjiang "cannot be matched by any other period in history".

"During the month of Ramadan, Muslim restaurants can decide whether they want to do business. There will be no interference," it said.

"Local governments ensure that all religious activities during Ramadan go on in an orderly manner," it added.

Comments

Abdul
 - 
Wednesday, 8 Jun 2016

MUSLIM COUNTRY SHOULD BAN CHINA PRODUCT ..Thats all

NOOR
 - 
Wednesday, 8 Jun 2016

Ignorance can lead to FEAR ...
I request the chinese and others who fear MUSLIMs cos of MEDIA propaganda.. to READ QURAN and then JUDGE ...
When U READ QURAN .... U will find the REAL trouble makers in this EARTH not just india or china ... through out the EARTH>..
Intelligent people who use their intellect will understand when they read the QURAN... TRY it... then decide to be FEARED or not.

Your IGnorance of the QURAN is the boost for many enemies of ISLAM.. which is creating lot of misconception of the DIVINE RELIGION...

May ALLAH guide those who look and PONDER on what QURAN says about WORSHIP. and the CREATION around us.

Arif
 - 
Wednesday, 8 Jun 2016

Because fasting can inculcate Taqwa, which is God consciousness and the Government do not want to see that happening - a Communist Agenda.

satyameva jayate
 - 
Tuesday, 7 Jun 2016

They are just namely communist....as they dont have any ban on buddhist activities and temples. Its only afraid of Muslims..ha ha....

and Muslims cannot live without buying chinese products....Ban their products from our life....let them know the strength...

Thousif
 - 
Tuesday, 7 Jun 2016

we all muslim should not buy any china product.all muslim country should ban china product.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 6: A delegation of Christians, led by Peter Machado, archbishop of Bengaluru, met chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Sunday and sought an amicable solution to the issue of installing a statue of Jesus Christ atop Kapalibetta in Harobele village, Kanakapura taluk.

Yediyurappa is learnt to have assured the delegation of doing the needful and said he would take a decision after the revenue department submits its report. The department is looking into various aspects of the issue, including the sanction of 10 acres of land for the purpose.

“The meeting was cordial and the chief minister lent us a patient hearing. Our only request was to settle the issue in a way that is acceptable to all sections of society,” Machado said. Congress functionary and Kanakapura legislator DK Shivakumar had laid the foundation stone for the 114-foot statue of Christ on Kapalibetta on Christmas Day at an event organised by the Harobele Kapalibetta Development Trust, which plans to install the statue.

The issue took a political hue when BJP functionaries objected, saying the land sanctioned to the trust is part of gomala (reserved for cattle grazing) land and any religious activity there would be illegal. Revenue minister R Ashoka sought a report and department officials said they would submit it in a week’s time.

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News Network
January 24,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 24: Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh on Friday said that a specialised task force to manage natural disasters would soon be constituted in all talukas of the Dakshina Kannada district, an official statement said here.

She further said in a meeting of the District Disaster Management Authority that during the floods last monsoon there was a shortage of boats to rescue stranded residents from flood-hit areas. Hence, more boats would be procured for the Home Guards and the Fire and Emergency Services.

She also instructed officials to make sure that schools have their own disaster management plans and also advised them to carry emergency materials kit, used during a natural disaster, in their vehicles.

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News Network
February 8,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 8: The BJP on Saturday drew flak on Twitter for taking a swipe at Muslim women who appear to be standing in a line to vote in Delhi's assembly polls. ""Kaagaz Nahi Dikayenge Hum" ! ! ! Keep the documents safe, you will need to show them again during NPR exercise (sic)," the party's Karnataka Twitter handle posted using the hashtag #DelhiPolls2020. 

The video, which appears to have been taken from one of the polling booths in Delhi on Saturday, shows burqa-clad women flashing their voter ID cards. While the threatening tone of the tweet is unmissable, the tweet contradicts the government's statement that no person needs to submit any documents during the house-to-house survey for updating the National Population Register (NPR) and that information provided by individuals would be accepted and recorded. 

The tweet has added to the prevailing confusion regarding the NPR exercise in the country. 

The NPR is a list of "usual residents" of the country. In 2010, the data for NPR was collected along with the house-listing phase of the Census of India 2011. The data was updated in 2015 by conducting a door-to-door survey.

Currently, it has been decided to update the NPR along with the house-listing phase of Census 2021 during April to September 2020 in all the states/union territories except Assam.

Most of the opposition parties see NPR as a prelude to the contentious National Register of Citizens (NRC), which has been opposed by even NDA allies like the JD(U). The NPR questionnaire asked details like the birthplace of parents. In combination with the recently amended citizenship law, protesters fear that the registry might be eventually used for NRC. 

As a result, people, predominantly Muslims, have hit the streets as India witnesses one of the most widespread civilian unrest of recent times.

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