Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS, June 11, 1997

Tokyo AERA, 05/26/97

By Isshi Shu, freelance writer

(Incomplete, editor of WUNN.)

"Even now, public security officers come here almost everyday." So

said, the 38-year-old Uygur woman who showed me the remains of bullets

that were fired at her parents' house. It is a private house located

about 30 km from Yining city, major city of the Xinjiang Uygur

Autonomous Region. According to what this woman and her neighbors have

told me, armed police officers and soldiers of the People's Liberation

Army [PLA] came to the house all of a sudden and shot to death seven

men, including her father, family members, and men who happened to be

in the house. All of them are Muslims. On the walls of the house, I

can still see the remains of tens of bullets. I found the house as

quiet as a grave.

The incident happened on the evening of 8 February. The Muslims who had

gathered at this house were performing a religious service. When armed

police officers held rifles at the ready, women hid themselves under

beds. However, the 70- year-old mother was pulled out and taken away.

Family members still cannot get in touch with her because her

whereabouts are unknown.

The slain father was a religious man who believed in Islam. He used to

hold religious services at home but he was not a "clergyman" as

authorized by the government authorities. In other words, he was an

unofficial leader. To engage in religious activities in China, one has

to obtain government's approval. Activities by people without a permit

are regarded as "fake religious activities." Precautions are taken

against them because they are regarded as "members of minority

nationalities engaged in instigating secessionist or independent

moves." He was probably marked out by the authorities.

The following preceded this incident. One of his sons used to make a

living by selling music cassette tapes. He was arrested by the

authorities because he had been distributing free cassette tapes of

"the Koran," Islamic scripture. It is not permitted to distribute free

cassette tapes of the Koran in this region.

For some unknown reason, the son was suddenly set free on 5 February,

three days before the incident. Since the son was at home that day, he

was shot to death. Many Young People are Jobless In fact, a riot also

broke out in Yining city on 5 February. Later on, it was reported as

"the largest riot that has ever taken place since the founding of New

China." It has been reported that another riot broke out in the same

city on 24 April.

The second riot broke out after the court gave its verdict on those who

were arrested in February. Reportedly, the riot broke out when about

1,000 Uygur people tried to release prisoners from a prison van.

It was just a few days before the second riot when I arrived in the

autonomous region for a visit. Gradually I came to understand that

soldiers and armed police officers were patrolling Yining streets and

that plainclothes police officers who had mingled among the crowd were

keeping an alert watch. The authorities seemed to be particularly

nervous about actions of foreign visitors.

I developed friendship with two Uygur young men, one named Osman and

the other Ismail (both are fictitious names). Being jobless, they idled

their time away by drinking everyday and by just doing nothing. It is

said that people in northern Xinjiang are relatively prosperous.

However, it is also said that there are many jobless youths who are

just like these two. Both of them witnessed the incident in Yining city

last February.

Cash Rewards Offered to Informants Here is Osman's testimony: What we

witnessed on 5 February was a horrible scene. About 700 or 800 young

men of minority nationalities who had been arrested earlier were

whipped and forced to walk from the Citizens' Hospital by public

security officials. It was a cold day but they were ordered to take off

their jackets, sweaters, and hats. Clothes they had taken off were

scattered on the streets for several hundred meters long from the

Hospital. All of them were devout Muslims; nearly all of them were

young men aged from 14 to 25; some of them were females.

When family members who had their own sons or brothers taken away

before found out that their sons and brothers were being forced to walk

in such a manner, they rushed out into the street and followed them.

But soon, they were arrested, too, and forced to join the procession.

As a result, there were over 1,000 people in the procession now. The

procession passed the Public Security Bureau, the City Office, and a

movie theater. As soon as the procession reached near the People's

Park, they were detained in a building which was under construction.

Then, they were sent out from there to prisons in various localities.

Follows testimony given by Ismail: A little before the incident,

whenever a religious service (of worship) was held at a mosque (a

chapel), armed police officers or PLA soldiers would appear to keep

watch over the service, while holding their rifles at the ready. They

would keep watch as to who were doing what in the service. Then, they

would lead away those who seemed to have played even a little important

role in the service. The service was held regularly but the number of

attendants decreased each time. When information about those who had

failed to show up was exchanged, it was learned that many of them had

been taken away by the authorities. The authorities were afraid that

riots may break out because of the growing dissatisfaction among the

people about such arrests. It was probably because of this fear that a

notice was issued to the effect that cash rewards would be offered to

those who inform the authorities about those who are planning to make

anti-government moves.

A cash reward from 20,000 to 200,000 yuan (one yuan is equal to about

15 yen) will be offered to informants. Many jobless people have found

it hard to make a living. Since it is easy to make a lot of money by

reporting on other people, there are some Uygur people turn into

informants.

The Illusionary Nation of "the Eastern Turkistan"

Meanwhile, Han nationals were prohibited from going out for several

days following the "riot" that broke out on 5 February. It is said that

the "protest demonstration" launched by the Uygurs was reported in TV

news programs. I asked Osman and Ismail to trace the course that the

Uygurs were forced to walk. It took about 50 minutes to trace this

course on foot.

In the city, there is a street named: "Street of the Han People."

Contrary to the name, I could hardly see any Han national there. The

street has been turned into a site where the Uygurs hold their bazaar.

I paid a visit to this bazaar, and found it to be crowded with people.

However, they looked gloomy. Although it was on the eve of the major

festival known as the Globan [name as transliterated] Festival, the

market seemed to be devoid of cheerful liveliness.

And it was also on 5 February that a city microbus and a public

security patrol car were set on fire in the Street of Han People. It

was in this Yining city that the founding of the "Republic of Eastern

Turkistan" was declared and its provisional government launched in

1944. Because of this historical fact, the residents here feel that

they are a special group among the Uygurs.

In 1949, Mao Zedong invited top leaders of "the Republic of Eastern

Turkistan" to participate in a consultative conference in Beijing.

However, they met with