People With Beards, Veils Banned from Boarding Buses in Xinjiang
Authorities in a city in China's disturbed western region of Xinjiang have banned people with long beards, headscarves, veils and clothes bearing the Islamic symbol of a star and crescent moon from boarding buses.
State-backed Karamay Daily reports that starting this week, the ban will be extended in Karamay - a northwestern Xinjiang city - until a local sports competition concludes on August 20.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the ban comes as Chinese authorities have grown increasingly alarmed by "deepening religious extremism" in the region. Xinjiang, which lies close to China's border with Kazakhstan and Pakistan, is home to a major chunk of Uighur Muslim minority who speak a Turkic language. The Uighurs have continuously been bothered by authorities, who have imposed restrictions on their religious practices time and again.
Reuters reports that the state media announced that authorities will prohibit the following five types of passengers from boarding buses in Karamay: those who wear veils, headscarves, a loose-fitting garment called a jilbab, clothing with the crescent moon and star and those with long beards.
The Karamay Daily newspaper further stated: "Those who do not comply, especially those five types of passengers, will be reported to the police."
On the other hand, exiled Uighur groups and human rights activists said that the government's tyrannical policies in Xinjiang, which includes controls on Islam, have only provoked unrest in the already disturbed region - a claim that the Chinese government denies.
"Officials in Karamay city are endorsing an openly racist and discriminatory policy aimed at ordinary Uighur people," said Alim Seytoff, the president of the Washington-based Uighur American Association, in an emailed statement.
The bitter relations between the Uighurs and China's Han Chinese majority have turned worse of late. Hundreds have been killed in the communal unrest in Xinjiang in the past 18 months. The Chinese State media did not hesitate in attributing the violence to Xinjiang separatists, who carried banners declaring a "holy war".
