Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS May 7, 1997

[ETIC, 7/5/97] The 13 young Uyghurs escaped to Gilgit city of Pakistan

seeking asylum from religious persecutions from the Chinese

authorities, but were arrested by the Pakistani police.

On April 17, the arrested Uyghurs were released on bail of the local

residents and were accepted as students of Gilgit's Islamic schools.

After 3 days, the Uyghurs were taken away from the schools by the police,

and were deported back to China.

The Pakistani human rights group warned the Foreign Ministry that these

Uyghurs might face persecutions in China, and decided to send its

representative to Gilgit to obtain additional information on the

incident.

The American human rights organization addressed to the secretary of

Pakistan's Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mr. Merjuenhan, and the

secretary of Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Shemshat

Ahmet, with requests to investigate this incident. A special

investigation team from those ministries was sent to Gilgit. The

representatives of Gilgit's Islamic schools expressed their deep

regrets on the happened incident.

The names of the deported Uyghurs are Abdullah, Abdurishit, Abdusemet,

Muhammet Ali, Muhammet Kirem, Mahmud, Obulqasim, Abdurehim, Muhammet

Yasin, Abdusalam, Nur Ali, Abdullah, and Mehemmet Turdi.

[Shemshat Mangit, Islamabad]