By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, November 24: The leading rights group Human Rights Watch has called for an independent probe into the Chinese government’s raid that killed 28 members of a group it claimed was responsible for the coalmine attack in September, in the Xinjiang region.
“Clarifying facts on the ground is essential in order to determine whether excessive force was used,” said the organization that consists of human rights professionals including country experts, lawyers, journalists etc.
Radio Free Asia last week reported that 17 suspects were killed including three children and four women. However, China claims that 28 were killed but the Chinese authorities declined to make further comments.
The September attack on a coal mine in Xinjiang led to death of 11 residents and 5 police officers, and injured 18 people.
“Violence aimed at terrorizing the population is always utterly deplorable, but it does not shield the government’s response from scrutiny. The death toll in China’s counterterrorism campaigns is deepening skepticism about Beijing’s tactics and goals,” said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch.
“If China truly has nothing to hide, then it is past time to allow United Nations experts, independent journalists, diplomats, and other observers free access to the region to examine all such incidents.”
The news coverage of the international media outlets have always differed from the state media’s coverage. Moreover, rights groups blame Beijing of heavy-handed rule in Xinjiang, a Muslim dominated region, violent police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and to curb the culture and language of the Uyghur people.
According to reports, the Chinese paramilitaries used flamethrowers to draw the suspects out of their hidings after flash grenades and tear gas failed. The People’s Liberation Army Daily wrote that more than 10 knife-wielding terrorists then rushed from the cave at police, who shot them dead.
The Human Rights Watch in its appeal said that Chinese authorities have a duty to both protect public order and to respect the rights of both suspects and the general population. It urged China to use intentional lethal force only when strictly unavoidable to protect life.
The region has always been under a tight watch with only monitored visits from diplomats and journalists. There were few cases of journalists turned around or not allowed to document the sites of the recent violent incidents in Xinjiang.
