Times Reports On China's Increasing Restrictions On Muslim Uighurs

A front page story in today's New York Times reports on the "intricate series of laws and regulations intended to control the spread and practice of Islam" imposed by China on Uighurs in the autonomous region of Xinjiang:

Official versions of the Koran are the only legal ones. Imams may not teach the Koran in private, and studying Arabic is allowed only at special government schools.... Students and government workers are compelled to eat during Ramadan, and the passports of Uighurs have been confiscated across Xinjiang to force them to join government-run hajj tours rather than travel illegally to Mecca on their own. Government workers are not permitted to practice Islam, which means the slightest sign of devotion, a head scarf on a woman, for example, could lead to a firing.

The government justifies the particularly strict regulation as an attempt to prevent destabilization of the region by forces of separatism, terrorism and religious extremism. Other media have previously published similar reports. (See prior posting.)