ISLAMABAD — China has allegedly detained dozens of Muslim women in itsrestive Xinjiang province for marrying men in a northern border region ofneighboring Pakistan, VOA has reported.
The issue was addressed in a unanimously passed resolution of thelegislative assembly of the Gilgit-Baltistan region, known as GB, that wasrevealed by the Pakistani lawmakers Sunday.
The resolution demands the Pakistani government take urgent steps to securethe release of more than 50 Chinese wives, who it says were taken intocustody last year while they were visiting relatives in their native townsin Xinjiang.
The deputy speaker of the assembly was quoted as saying the women wererounded up during a Chinese anti-terrorism crackdown on the ethnic UighurMuslin community in Xinjiang.
The detainees are married to GB men who are mostly associated with tradingactivity through the Khunjerab Pass, the only land route linking Pakistanand China, about 4,500 meters above sea level.
Regional lawmakers insisted the history of intermarriages between GB andXinjiang is decades old, and both the border regions share deep culturalties. They asserted the detained Chinese women were innocent and had nolinks to any radical elements.
Chinese and Pakistani federal officials have not immediately offered anyreaction to the allegations leveled in the resolution.
Religiously-motivated violence in Xinjiang has been a cause of concern forChinese officials. They blame the outlawed East Turkestan Islamic Movement,or ETIM, for plotting the terrorist attacks in and beyond the province.
The separatist group was founded by militant Uighurs apparently in responseto alleged government restrictions on religious and cultural expression,charges Beijing denies as baseless.
ETIM is believed to have ties with militants operating in Afghanistan andPakistan.
The Gilgit-Baltistan region is the gateway to a massive economiccooperation deal, called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
The project is a combination of building roads, rails, economic free zonesand power plants in Pakistan with an estimated $62 billion Chineseinvestment. Thousands of Chinese are currently in Pakistan, working onCPEC-related projects.
FILE – Work in progress at the site of Pakistan China Silk Road in Haripur,Pakistan, Dec. 22, 2017.
The corridor aims to link the Arabian Sea, Pakistani port of Gwadar toXinjiang through Khunjerab Pass, giving Beijing a secure and shortest tradeaccess to international markets.