Pakistan urges China to ease pressure on Uighur Muslims amid warnings by right groups

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Pakistan has urged China to ease pressure on the country’s Muslim minorities amid warnings by rights groups.

China’s Uighur Muslims currently face strict restrictions on religious activities and mass detention in so-called “re-education camps”.

The appeal is significant as Pakistan has traditionally had good ties with its large neighbour.

Pakistan’s minister for religious affairs, Noorul Haq Qadri met Chinese representative Yao Xing earlier this week to discuss the treatment of the Uighur population in China’s western Xinjiang province.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the forcible detention of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities in the province started in 2017.

This month, the organisation released a report on China’s oppression of Xinjiang’s Muslims which presented new evidence of mass detention, torture, and mistreatment of the region’s Muslim minority.

The report estimates an indefinite detention of an estimated one million people in “political education camps”.

The report also describes incidents of torture during interrogations to obtain confessions or information.

The development comes weeks after a report by HRW said China had began installing QR codes on the homes of the Uighur Muslim community in order to obtain instant access to their personal details.

The mass security crackdown is the latest step in the “forced political indoctrination” of the religious minority, the charity said.

Mr Qadri said the treatment of the religious minority could foment reactionary extremist views and urged Beijing to take concrete steps to address the issue.

Analysts say Pakistan’s move is noteworthy amid growing pressure on China over human right’s violations.