Pakistan stands with China in face of US-led claims
Pakistan has defended China over its treatment of minority Muslim community, describing US and other Western claims of rehabilitation centers for Uighurs as media sensationalism.
Lawmakers in Pakistan’s northernmost region of Gilgit-Baltistan demanded earlier this year that authorities in China’s Xinjiang province immediately release dozens of Chinese women married to Pakistani men.
Mohammad Faisal, spokesman for Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs, said in Islamabad some media outlets were spreading fake news about the Chinese women married to Pakistani nationals.
"Some section of foreign media are trying to sensationalize the matter by spreading false information," Faisal said.
"As per Chinese authorities, out of 44 women, six are already in Pakistan. Four have been convicted on various charges, three are under investigations, eight are undergoing voluntary training. Twenty-three women are free and living in Xinjiang of their own free will."
Human Rights Watch has accused the Chinese government of carrying out “repressive policies” against the Muslims in Xinjiang.
It has claimed governmental controls over day-to-day life in Xinjiang, primarily affecting ethnic Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities.
According to estimates cited by a UN panel, numerous camps have been set up in China's vast Xinjiang region, holding as many as one million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.
Chinese officials have dismissed the allegations and instead characterized the camps as “vocational education and employment training centers” for “criminals involved in minor offenses.”
They have long linked their measures in Xinjiang with counter-terrorism efforts, arguing that separatists are bent on joining Takfiri terrorists like al-Qaeda.
Last March, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the military to erect a “Great Wall of Steel” around the restive region after an apparent spike in killing that authorities blame on Takfiri terrorists.
Pakistan's pronouncement of support for China comes amid Islamabad's tensions with the US, which have escalated under the Trump administration.
Instead, Pakistan has upgraded its relationship with China, lauding tens of billions of investment dollars that Beijing is pouring into the country as a "game changer".
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