By Makhdoom Sultan Babar
I’ve visited northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region for more than ten times since 2004. The region has beautiful scenery, abundant natural resources, and friendly people. I’ve made many friends there.
There was a time when terrorist, separatist and extremist forces had caused huge damage to the stability and development of Xinjiang, and posed grave threats to the safety of people’s lives and property.
I visited the region again upon invitation last year, and I was gratified to see all kinds of positive changes there.
I saw busy streets with endless streams of cars and people. Modern hospitals, well-equipped schools, and fashionable shopping malls were seen everywhere.
The great social order and the significantly improved security presented the region’s vitality, showing the rapid development of Xinjiang.
What impressed me most was Chinese government’s firm determination to support Xinjiang’s development and safeguard the stable life for people there.
The central government of China has made great efforts to encourage talents across the country to work in Xinjiang and attract outstanding enterprises to invest and build factories there, which has quickly boostedXinjiang’s construction and development.
In recent years, Xinjiang has created massive jobs for local people, and actively carried out poverty alleviation. Fruitful results have been achieved.
In Kashgar, I met an old Uyghur friend running business of traditional instruments. He told me that the local residents were obviously enjoying a stronger sense of gain, happiness and security.
Everyone cherishes the harmonious society featuring stable development and solidarity, He said. His remarks inspired me, and I thought to myself, “Don’t the endeavors to safeguard people’s well-being also give a guarantee of their human rights?
At present, certain politicians in the U.S. are trying to make troubles for the bilateral ties between the two countries to serve political needs of their country. While protecting human rights and freedoms are only a disguise, what they really aim at is to seize political interests.
By withdrawing from international treaties and organizations frequently, the U.S. is sabotaging the international order established after the World War Ⅱ. The country’s hegemonic acts have posed serious threats to world peace and stability.
As the world is increasingly globalized, those who attempt to prettify or even glorify violence will eat their own bitter fruit sooner or later.
Not long ago, the U.S. has witnessed extensive protests against police brutality, which revealed its deep-rooted racial discrimination. The U.S. must face its own human rights issues.
The measures Chinese government has taken to fight terrorism and extremism in accordance with the law in Xinjiang have yielded remarkable results. Thesemeasures are indispensable for guaranteeing the region’s stability and prosperity.
Terrorism and extremism are the common enemies of mankind and pose severe threats to human rights. It’s acommon responsibility of the international community to combat criminal acts of terrorism and extremism.
Countries in the world should stand firm against such deeds as politicizing the human rights issue, playing double standards on human rights issues, and interfering in domestic affairs of other countries under the guise of protecting human rights.
(The article is based on People’s Daily correspondent in Pakistan Ding Xuezhen’s interview with MakhdoomSultan Babar, president and editor-in-chief of Pakistani newspaper Daily Mail.)
