Reacting to a shocking video of shackled and blindfolded Chinese Uighur Muslim population being transferred to ‘re-education centres’, the Chinese authorities seemed to normalise the atrocities meted out to Uighur Muslims by claiming that they were carrying out ‘normal’ judicial activities. A video from Xinjiang province of China purportedly shot from a drone has come to fore which shows the detainees being led from trains with their heads shaven, eyes covered and hands tied.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGYoeJ5U7cQ]

The video of shackled and blindfolded Uighur Muslims emerged online even as the United States mounts pressure on China for its inhuman treatment of the Muslim population of the Xinjiang province. The United States has recently blacklisted 28 Chinese companies and government agencies over Uighur repression.

The alleged prisoners seen in the video are sitting in rows outside what appears a train station eyeballed by a phalanx of SWAT officers. The detainees, many of whom are believed to be minority Uighur Muslims are seen wearing purple vests with ‘Kashgar Detention Center’ written on their backs. According to some reports, China is shifting some of the Uighur Muslims from detention centres to actual prisons.

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China has been facing the flak from many countries in the world for its unprecedented crackdown against the ethnic minority-Uighur Muslim population in Xinjiang. Incriminating reports blaming Beijing of interning members of its Muslim population – by “re-educating” them away from their faith have emerged.

It is believed that China has resorted to this measure as a response to riots and violent attacks that the government has endured recently at the hands of Muslim separatists in the Xinjiang province. In these detention centres, Muslims are allegedly compelled to unlearn their traditions, pan their Islamic practices and extend their loyalty to Xi Jinping’s Communist Party. They are railroaded into eating pork. If recent evidence is to be believed, China has separated the Uighur Muslim children from their parents before indoctrinating them in camps disguised as schools and orphanages.

In 2015, China had banned civil servants, students and teachers in its mainly Muslim Xinjiang region from fasting during Ramadan and ordered restaurants to stay open. In a policy paper released by Beijing, it has justified its decision of detaining Uighur Muslims claiming that it has been taken in response to riots and violent attacks that the government has suffered at the hands of Muslim separatists in the Xinjiang province. In these detention centres, Muslims are allegedly compelled to unlearn their cultures, criticise their Islamic practices and extend their loyalty to Xi Jinping’s Communist Party.