BEIJING: China’s far-flung western region of Xinjiang is demanding that lawyers guarantee family members don’t wear burqas or grow long beards, the latest government move critics say unfairly targets the region’s Muslim Uighur ethnic community.
Lawyers in Turpan, an oasis city southeast of the regional capital, Urumqi, have to sign a pledge denouncing extremism and participation in “illegal religious activities”, the Xinjiang judicial affairs department website said on Tuesday.
“Lawyers must commit to guaranteeing that family members and relatives do not wear burqas, veils or participate in illegal religious activities, and that young men do not grow long beards,” the statement said.
While many Uighur women dress in much the same casual fashions as other women in China, others have begun to wear full veils, something more common in Pakistan or Afghanistan than traditionally in Xinjiang.
As an “important force” for protecting social stability, lawyers must take a leading role in combating extremism, the statement said, adding that 57 lawyers and six law students had signed the pledge so far.
The demand comes after a car ploughed through bystanders on the edge of Tiananmen Square in Beijing and burst into flames in late October, killing the three people in the car and two bystanders. China called it a “terrorist attack” carried out by Islamist militants from Xinjiang.
Reuters
