JAKARTA: Hundreds of Indonesians protested outside the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta on Friday calling for an end to Beijing’s oppression of its ethnic Uighur minority.
The rally in support of the ethnic Muslim group began after Friday prayers and was the second held outside the embassy in a week.
On Thursday, more than 100 members of the youth group Laskar Merah Putih also protested against China’s treatment of the Uighurs.
Rally organizer Slamet Ma’arif said the protest voiced its “condemnation of China’s oppression against our Uighur Muslim brothers.”
“We demand the Chinese government stop forbidding Muslim Uighurs to exercise their religion,” Ma’arif said.
He called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to investigate China’s treatment of the Uighur and take its findings to the International Criminal Court.
“We condemn the Indonesian government’s idleness regarding the Uighurs’ problem and its failure to carry out our constitutional mandate which states that colonialism should be abolished in the world,” Ma’arif said.
Arini Soemardi, a teacher who attended the rally, told Arab News she wanted to express solidarity with oppressed fellow Muslims.
“The Indonesian government has not said much about this. The government should strongly voice its opposition to the oppression in accordance with our constitution,” she said.
Indonesian leaders have been reluctant to comment on the Uighur issue, opting for talks “under the radar” instead of what officials describe as “megaphone diplomacy.”
Retired general Moeldoke, the presidential chief of staff, said earlier this week that Indonesia does not want to meddle in China’s domestic affairs.
Xiao Qian, China’s ambassador to Indonesia, told Moeldoko earlier this month that reports of China’s alleged mistreatment of its Muslim minority are false.
In a report released in June, the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) said that China’s systematic repression of ethnic Uighur Muslims “has caused little angst in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country.”
“The fact that China is Indonesia’s largest trading partner and second-largest investor adds to the reluctance among officials to voice criticism, but it is not the major factor in Indonesia’s muted response,” IPAC analyst Deka Anwar said.
The report said that Chinese diplomats have “gone the extra mile” to make sure that Indonesia’s two largest Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, remained silent.
China also arranged a junket in February for Muslim leaders and reporters to see the Uighurs’ living conditions in the “vocational training centers.”
The report alleges that “NU delegates apparently took their host’s claims at face value” because an NU cleric said after their return that they did not see any concentration or internment camps during the trip.
Muhyiddin Junaidi, head of the Indonesian Council of Ulema’s international department, who led the invited delegation, told a forum on Dec. 20 that the group was strictly monitored throughout the visit to three cities.
“We were under heavy surveillance and could not go anywhere other than what was planned in the itinerary. We asked to go to the mosque for Friday prayers and were taken at the last minute. We saw there were no young people performing prayers, only old men, because the young ones were at work,” he said.
Jakarta rally voices anger over Uighur ‘oppression’
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Jakarta rally voices anger over Uighur ‘oppression’
- Renewed protests condemn China's treatment of ethnic Muslim minority
Pakistan rules out talks with Afghanistan, says more than 330 Afghan fighters killed in operations
- Pakistan is a major non-NATO ally of Washington, while the US considers the Afghan Taliban a “terrorist” group
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has ruled out talks with Afghanistan until there is an end to “terrorism” emanating from Afghan soil, officials said on Friday. The statement follows the killing of more than 330 Afghan fighters in cross-border skirmishes this week.
The latest clashes between the neighbors erupted after Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan territory last weekend triggered retaliatory attacks along the border on Thursday, escalating long‑simmering tensions over Pakistan’s claim that Afghanistan shelters Pakistani Taliban militants. Afghanistan denies this, saying Pakistan is deflecting blame for its own security failures.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said his country had killed 331 Afghan fighters, destroyed over 100 posts and targeted 37 military locations across Afghanistan. Afghan officials have said more than 50 Pakistani soldiers have been killed and several Pakistan posts captured. Neither casualty figures nor battlefield claims by either side could be independently verified.
Meanwhile, Mosharraf Zaidi, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesperson for foreign media, ruled out any talks with Afghanistan until Kabul addresses the issue, while the US expressed support for what it called Pakistan’s “right to defend itself” against attacks from Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers.
“There won’t be any talks, there is nothing to talk about ... Terrorism from Afghanistan has to end,” Zaidi told state-run Pakistan TV Digital, saying Islamabad would continue to target militant havens inside Afghanistan.
“Pakistan’s responsibility is to protect its citizens. If we know that there is a terrorist in point A and we know that there is a terrorist enabler at point A, we will find a weapon to land at point A and eliminate the threat.”
Zaidi said he did not expect Pakistan to deviate from this position: “We have clearly articulated what we are doing and what we plan on continuing to do and what it will take for us to stop doing what we are doing.”
He added: “And we will expect that both the international community and the regime in question, the Afghan Taliban, will come to their senses and will help reduce instability and disorder in this region.”
Pakistan is a major non-NATO ally of Washington, while the US considers the Afghan Taliban a “terrorist” group.
“The United States supports Pakistan’s right to defend itself against attacks from the Taliban, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group,” Reuters quoted a State Department spokesperson as saying.
US diplomat Allison Hooker said on X she had spoken with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch on Friday.
The State Department spokesperson said Washington was aware of the escalation in tensions and “outbreak of fighting between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban,” adding the US was “saddened by the loss of life.”
“The Taliban have consistently failed to uphold their counterterrorism commitments,” it said. “Terrorist groups use Afghanistan as a launching pad for their heinous attacks.”
Meanwhile, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid called for talks to resolve the crisis.
“We have always emphasized peaceful resolution, and now too we want the issue to be resolved through dialogue,” he said on Friday afternoon.
Asked what Pakistan desired, Tarar said: “Neutralizing the threat and ensuring that Pakistan is safe. Because for us, we’ve been good neighbors, we’ve been very friendly neighbors, we’ve been very, very generous neighbors. Our generosity, unfortunately, has often been seen as our weakness. So the objective, aim is to neutralize the threat and make Pakistan safe.”
He added it was too early to comment on a ceasefire as it was an evolving situation.
