Some officials of China’s ruling Communist Party in militancy-hit Xinjiang participated in terrorist and separatist activities, adversely affecting the crackdown on extremists, a top regional party official said.
Xu Hairong, head of the Xinjiang Discipline Inspection Commission, said some Communist Party of China (CPC) members participated in terrorist activities backed by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), a party affiliated newspaper reported.
“Certain Party members made irresponsible remarks on decisions made by their superiors, some of which are opposed to the requirements of the CPC Central Committee and Xinjiang regional committee,” Xu said.
“Some are double-tongued about significant issues on anti-separatism, ethnic unity and national unification,” Xu said.
ETIM, an al-Qaeda backed separatist outfit, has been active among native Uyghur Muslims, carrying out a number of violent attacks in and outside the region. Xinjiang has been unrest for some years now over the settlement of Hans from mainland China. China deployed a large number of security forces in the region, bordering the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), to contain violence. Recent reports said Xinjiang police killed 28 terrorists when they attacked a coal mine. Commenting on Xu’s remarks, a Xinjiang-based expert told the Global Times that a few grassroots and middle-rank officials of the ethnic minority groups were ambivalent about the anti-separatism campaign, despite faced with terrorism, extremism and separatism as well as pan-Islamism and pan-Turkism.