'China's Uyghur genocide setting worst example to other nations': ex-Pentagon official

China's Uyghur Muslim genocide has set a terrible example for other countries which might target and seek to eradicate their own Muslim majorities, said a former Pentagon official. Michael Rubin in his article for the Washington Examiner said that such systematic eradication of minority population was not seen since Nazi Germany. 

"Not since Nazi Germany has there been such a systematic policy of internment and cultural eradication as what President Xi Jinping now wages against China's Muslim minority. The People's Liberation Army and other Chinese security forces may not push Uighurs into gas chambers, but the mass, forced sterilisation of Uighur women has the same effect upon the population, only delayed," Rubin said.

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'Pakistan, Turkey betraying Muslims'

He pointed out that while many Muslim countries condemn France for President Emmanuel Macron's criticism of radical Islamism (after the murder of French school teacher Samuel Paty and the recent knife attack in Nice), the three most vocal politicians criticising Macron have been Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, and former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad.

Rubin said that it is ironic that all three leaders are "among the most apologetic to China" and its assault on millions of its Muslims. Surprisingly, Pakistan backed Beijing's crackdown at the United Nations. Turkey and Malaysia did not sign on to that endorsement but appeared to support China with their silence. He added that Erdogan has even gone so far as to expel Uighurs back to China, where they face imprisonment or death.

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"However, the biggest problem is not only letting China get away with murder but rather their justification which creates a precedent for other countries to target and attempt to eradicate their own Muslim majorities," he wrote further.

"Erdogan, Khan, and Mohamad might picture themselves as defenders of the faith, but they have essentially become the equivalent of kapos, the Jewish concentration camp administrators who collaborated in exchange for the privilege or short-term safety," Rubin added.

The former pentagon officer wrote that the three leaders may think that their anti-French rant will win them praise from the broader Muslim community, but in reality, "they will be dismissed in history" as among the greatest betrayers of the Muslim community's ability to practice their own faith openly and in peace.

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China's systematic crackdown on Uyghurs

China's Xinjiang is home to around 10 million Uyghurs. These Turkic Muslims, which consist of 45% of Xinjiang's population, have long accused China's authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination.

About 7% of the Muslim population in Xinjiang has been imprisoned in an expanding network of "political re-education" (detention) camps, according to US officials and UN experts. Classified documents known as the China Cables revealed how the Chinese government uses technology to control Uyghur Muslims worldwide.

However, China has repeatedly denied these reports stating that the camps in Xinjiang provide vocational training. People in the camps have described being subjected to forced political indoctrination, torture, beatings, and denial of food and medicine, and say they have been prohibited from practising their religion or speaking their language.

As Beijing denies these accounts, it also refuses to allow independent inspections into these regions, which further fuels reports related to China's atrocities on the minority Muslims. 

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(With inputs from agency)

(Image credits: AP)