On Thursday, the 6th of October 2022, in preparation of the 51st UN Human Right Council resolution on the Uyghur population in Xinjiang asking a debate on China’s position and
action, the UN ambassador of Pakistan issued a circumvoluted country’s statement to the UN High Commissioner just before the voting cloud begin, explaining why Pakistan will not support this resolution.
It obviously raises many question on why Pakistan, a Muslim country firmly engaged in the promotion and protection of Muslims around the world, shall disregard the fate of Muslim
populations in Xinjiang. Indeed, Pakistan is the nodal OIC contact group Head besides claiming to take up the cause of Muslims worldwide.
It is now history that the massive action of China on Xinjiang population, for the majority Muslim, have started with the Urumqi terror attacks in 2014. Whether these attacks were a
set-up or not, China took conscience of the potential timebomb of the population of the region and enhanced the gear up of what is called in the western world as the « horror
camps of reeducation » and in China as « civic education of the population ».
The vast majority of the extreme west of China is composed of Muslims. Religions have never be a problem for communist China unless they stay discreet. It is not even certain that
the Urumqi attacks were planned by Muslims or with Muslim support. The reality today however is that the population under pressure now in Xinjiang is Muslim.
Since the Western world has triggered a massive campaign against the China regime since years because of the repression of the « local populations », the fact that Muslim countries are strongly embedded with China economically and politically makes them extremely silent and cautious about any move against China that could raise the issue of the fate of the Xinjiang Uyghur population.
One may argue that cautious policies are not a bad thing but on the other hand, the fact that no Muslim countries, and recently Pakistan, withdraw from its responsibility of discussing the fate of a vast array of Muslim population is a clear signal that the relations between China and the Muslim world is at the advantage of the first one, the second placing economic interests above all other considerations.