*ISLAMABAD: *Every autumn on the mountainous Karakoram Highway, part of theancient Silk Road, groups of Pakistani merchants living in China’s far westwould wave goodbye to their Chinese wives and cross the border to spendwinter in their home country.
As the snow piled high, the men would stay in touch with their families byphone, longing for the spring thaw that would allow them to be reunited inXinjiang.
But last year many of their calls suddenly went unanswered.
Their families, they learned, had disappeared into a growing network ofshadowy “reeducation centres” that have swept up the region’s Uighur Muslimminority over fears of Islamic militancy crossing the border from Pakistan.
“My wife and kids were taken away by the Chinese authorities in March lastyear and I haven’t heard from them since,” said Iqbal, a Pakistanibusinessman who declined to give his surname over concern about hisfamily’s safety.
Last July, he headed to China to find them, but was turned away at theborder. Authorities “said my wife was in ‘training’ and the government wastaking care of my kids”, he told AFP.
“I begged them to let me talk to my daughters, but they refused.”
Iqbal is one of dozens of merchants from Gilgit-Baltistan who return toPakistan for visa reasons or to run their businesses and have been unableto contact their Uighur families living in China, according to JavedHussain, a member of the local assembly for the Pakistani region thatborders Xinjiang.
Earlier this month, the delegates passed a unanimous resolution protestingthe “illegal detention” of the men’s families.
“The Chinese authorities should at least allow the men to meet their wivesand children,” Hussain said. “China is our friend and this incident willleave a bad taste.”
China’s foreign ministry said that the “two sides are maintainingcommunication about problems related to interactions between bothcountries’ people”, while Pakistan’s said the issue was being “activelydiscussed with the government of China”.
Like many of the men, Iqbal’s family lived in Kashgar, an ancient cityalong the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a trade route connectingChina’s far west to the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar.
In recent years, China has heavily pushed its relationship with
Pakistan, investing tens of billions of dollars in CPEC infrastructureprojects in the country, and Beijing has upgraded the treacherous mountainroad connecting Gilgit-Baltistan to Xinjiang.
But China has had difficulty reconciling its desire for development withfears that Uighur separatists will import violence from Pakistan.
Chinese authorities have long linked their crackdown on Xinjiang’s Muslimsto international counter-terrorism, arguing that separatists are bent onjoining foreign extremists like al Qaeda.
Uighurs have been tied to mass stabbings and bombings that left dozens deadin recent years across the country. Riots and clashes with the governmentkilled hundreds more.
Over the past year, China has turned to increasingly drastic methods toeliminate what it describes as the “three forces”: terrorists, religiousextremists and separatists.
In 2017, the government flooded Xinjiang with tens of thousands of securitypersonnel, with police stations on nearly every block in urban areas andtough regulations to “eliminate extremism”.
This included the increased use of compulsory ‘reeducation’ for anyonesuspected of harbouring separatist sympathies.
Iqbal and the other Pakistani men believe their wives – and even businessassociates – have been targeted because they received calls and messagesfrom Pakistan.
“Any communication from Pakistan is considered a threat,” said Qurban, abusinessman who has worked in Kashgar for over 30 years.
“One of my employees, a Uighur, was picked up two years back just becausehe was in touch with me when I went to Pakistan.”
Chinese authorities have denied the existence of reeducation centres.
But regulations against extremism adopted by Xinjiang last March call forauthorities to step up political reeducation.
In Kashgar alone, more than 120,000 people – about three percent of thearea’s population – were being held in the facilities in January, accordingto Radio Free Asia.
An AFP review of state media reports and government documents verified theexistence of at least 30 such centres and almost 4,000 cases of peoplebeing sent to them.
Regulations posted on a local website in Xinjiang’s Hejing county explainedthat even minor transgressions of strict religious regulations can bepunished with up to three months in a centre.
Ali, a businessman who lost contact with his wife in December, said she hadbeen taken by authorities to do a “sort of training where they teach themabout Communism and prepare them to be patriotic citizens”.
“My wife told me that Chinese police had come to her house and asked herabout the calls from Pakistan and asked her to explain her links withETIM,” said Ali, referring to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, amilitant group China has accused of attempting to foment Uighur separatism.
He plans to cross the border in May to find his family, but has been toldhis children are in the custody of the Chinese government and doesn’t knowif he will see them again.
“They never tell you anything, they just say your family will come back toyou when they finish their training.” – Agencies