A Chinese official denies allegations by activists that China's government is blocking Muslim religious practices in the restive Xinjiang region during the holy month of Ramadan.
A Chinese diplomat in neighboring Pakistan said Beijing has put only partial restrictions on Ramadan activities, not a total ban on fasting by the Uighur minority in Xinjiang.
"There's no blanket ban. That's Western propaganda," Lijian Zhao, the deputy chief of mission at China's embassy in Islamabad, told VOA.
Zhao said that Xinjiang residents were free to fast during Ramadan and that restrictions were limited to those with official responsibilities to ensure their religious practices did not interfere with their public duties.
A map showing "East Turkistan," the name Uighurs who oppose Chinese rule call their homeland, a region China refers to as Xinjiang is seen at a bookstore in Istanbul's Zeytinburnu neighborhood, Dec. 14, 2017. VOA
"Restrictions are with the Communist Party members, who are atheists; government officials, who shall discharge their duties; and students who are with compulsory education and hard learning tasks," he said.
The official's comments come as human rights activists and Uighur advocacy groups have expressed concern about the Chinese government's widening its repression of thousands of Uighurs as they joined millions of Muslims from around the world to fast during Ramadan, which began May 5 and continues for a month.
Dolkun Isa, the head of the Germany-based World Uighur Congress, told VOA that Uighurs who are working in the public sector and students are asked to appear daily at canteens during lunch or they will be accused of secretly fasting and hiding "extremist" tendencies.
Disputing Zhao's assertion that the restrictions were limited, the exiled Uighur leader Isa said government workers were also forced to take home food and share with their family members. Other common Muslim practices, such as attending prayer and wearing a headscarf, are also banned for local residents.
"In some cases, Uighur employees are forced to take home pork and ordered to share with their families," said Isa. "The restrictions on Ramadan have been in place every year since 2016, but they are especially hard this year."
Separatist movement
The vast region of deserts and mountains in the northwest is home to nearly 22 million people and has the greatest concentration of Muslims in China, estimated to be about 11 million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities.
Conflict in the region is not new. The Chinese government has for decades suppressed a separatist movement by Uighurs to establish an independent state called East Turkestan. Uighurs accuse the government of forcing demographic changes by settling millions of Han Chinese in the region.
The government in Beijing has in recent years faced growing international condemnation over the detention of more than a million minority Uighurs and other Muslims in so-called re-education camps.
FILE – Barbed wire protects the walls around a cluster of schools on the outskirts of Kashgar, in western China's Xinjiang region, Aug. 31, 2018. VOA