No evidence of ban on fasting in Xinjiang: clerics

The four-member delegation visited the region between June 26 and 28 at the request of the Chinese government

ISLAMABAD: A team of Pakistani clerics and functionaries maintained on Friday that they found no evidence of restrictions on Ramazan fasting in Xinjiang.

The high-powered four-member delegation was led by Director-General of Research of the ministry of religious affairs Noorul Islam Shah. It included a Cleric of the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, Misbahur Rehman, and two religious scholars Mufti Abdul Salam and Qari Muhammad Shah.

Pakistan team to probe reported China fasting ban



The team had gone to Xinjiang, a Chinese province dominantly Muslim, to determine the veracity of media reports which suggested that Chinese authorities had banned fasting in Ramazan.

The delegation visited Xinjiang between June 26 and 28 on the request of the Chinese government which asked Pakistan’s Foreign Office to send a delegation for observing the Ramazan’s practices in the Muslim populated province to dispel the controversy once and for all.

Earlier, it was reported that China marked the start of Ramazan with its ‘customary ban’ on civil servants, barring students and children in the mainly-Muslim region from fasting. Media reports also suggested that China had also ordered restaurants to stay open.

However, the Chinese government rejected these reports, terming them baseless. Chinese officials claimed that they did “not force Muslims in Xinjiang to break the Ramadan fast, as the Chinese Constitution protects freedom of religion”.

A senior official of the ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that during the visit the delegation held meetings with religious scholars in China and local people in Xinjiang.

“During the visit, it was found that the Muslim community (in Xinjiang) has complete religious freedom and they are free to perform their religious duties,” the official quoted a member of the delegation as saying.



The official said that they were received by the Department of Religious Affairs of the Chinese government and they also visited mosques in Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang, and elsewhere in the region.

During the visit the Chinese Muslims informed the members of the delegation that they enjoyed religious freedom.



The official said that the delegation would file its report to the secretary of the ministry of religious affairs which will forward it to the foreign ministry.

China’s Muslim population is nearly 20 million and the far-western region of Xinjiang is home to 10 million Uighur Muslims.

During the visit, the delegation was also informed that 3,000 Chinese Muslims will perform Hajj this year and that the Chinese government facilitated them every year.

Similarly, the delegation was informed that there were 408 mosques in Urumqi and the number of mosques in the entire Xinjiang region was 24,000.

China’s concern was to dispel an impression created by western media outlets so they invited the delegation, explained the official.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2016.