Map courtesy: thechinabeat.blogpost.com  

Introduction

In an April 5, 2012 statement, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security published details of six terror suspects who had spent time in a "neighboring country" – a reference to close ally Pakistan – and describing them as "core members" of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM).[1] It also urged foreign governments to arrest and hand over the six ETIM members to Chinese authorities.

East Turkistan, also known as Xinjiang, was relatively autonomous until the early 1950s when Mao's victorious rebel armies captured it and other Chinese border regions.[2] Resistance by the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uyghurs to gain independence from China has lacked political support from neighboring nations due to their own "fractured tribal nature."[3]

Founded in 1997, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is an Islamic militant group seeking East Turkistan's independence from China. In recent decades, its members have operated out of their bases in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, often arriving there via Southeast Asian countries. In April 2012, a ministry spokesman called the group "the most direct and real safety threat that China faces."[4]

In recent years, Pakistani and Chinese officials have worked in close cooperation to capture ETIM militants from Pakistani tribal areas. In June 2009, Pakistan extradited 10 militants of ETIM to China, with a Pakistani official confirming that they were captured after they attacked Pakistani security forces.[5] In 2010, Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said: "We treat ETIM not only as an enemy of China but also as an enemy of Pakistan…"[6]

However, Chinese concern about the ETIM militants based in Pakistan has persisted. In March 2012, Xinjiang governor Nur Bekri warned that China is facing a network of militants entrenched in neighboring countries. Asked about the ETIM's Pakistan connection, Bekri said: "We have certainly discovered that East Turkistan [Islamic Movement] activists and terrorists in our neighboring states have a thousand and one links… But officials, especially in Pakistan, have said over and over again that they oppose any violent activities directed against China."[7]

The Problem in Xinjiang

The province of Xinjiang borders Afghanistan and Pakistan and is roughly the size of Iran. Comprising a sixth of China's land mass, Xinjiang is also rich in natural resources, including oil, coal and gas.[8] In addition to China, Russia too claims historical rights over Xinjiang.

Traditionally, the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uyghur natives were a majority in Xinjiang. However, this population has shifted over the years in favor of the ethnic Han Chinese. As a 2009 BBC report stated: "Tensions between the [Muslim] Uighurs and Hans have been growing in recent years. Millions of Hans have moved to the region in recent decades, and while the majority of residents used to be Muslim Uighurs, Hans now outnumber them in some areas, including Urumqi."[9] Of the 22 million people of Xinxiang, nine million are estimated to be Turkic-speaking Muslim Uyghurs.[10]

This population trend has led to ethnic conflicts, with the Uyghurs demanding independence from communist China in order to safeguard their cultural and Islamic identity. The Uyghur interests are defended by a number of secular and democratic groups, including the World Uyghur Congress and the East Turkestan Liberation Movement, in addition to the ETIM. Like other groups, the ETIM seeks East Turkistan's independence from China, but it is an Islamic militant organization, and its ideological objective is to enforce Islamic Sharia in the region. The ETIM has also distanced itself from the secular democratic groups representing the Uyghurs.

Throughout the 1990s, ethnic clashes erupted between the Uyghurs and the Hans, with the Chinese authorities launching massive police crackdowns and arresting activists and sentencing them to death. The problem in Xinjiang attracted international attention through the summer of 2009, when a series of ethnic riots between the Uyghurs and Hans erupted, the worst being the July 5 violent clashes during Uyghur protests in the province capital of Urumqi, in which nearly 200 Hans died. China sentenced to death at least 25 people, mostly Uyghurs, for their role in the 2009 riots.[11]

The East Turkistan Islamic Movement – ETIM/ETIP or TIP/IPT

Abdul Al-Aziz, the TIP's Uyghur representative

ETIM militants have been operating out of their hideouts in the Pakistani tribal region. Also known as the East Turkistan Islamic Party (ETIP), the ETIM has been known to be connected to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban over the years. The group's leadership was taken over by Abdul Haq aka Maimaitiming Maimaiti after ETIM Chief Hasan Mahsum aka Abu Muhammad was killed by the Pakistani army in 2003 in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan.[12]

On April 20, 2009, the U.S. Department of Treasury declared ETIM chief Abdul Haq a global terrorist supporting Al-Qaeda.[13] The U.S., which also identified Abdul Haq as member of the Al-Qaeda Shura (executive leadership council), said that its action followed "a decision by the United Nations Security Council's 1267 Committee to place Haq on its list of persons associated with" Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.[14] Abdul Haq was killed in a U.S. drone strike in February 2010.[15]

Around the time of Abdul Haq's death, the group's leaders reorganized and began operating under the banner of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), which remains active on the propaganda front and trains hundreds of Uyghur children based in the Pakistani tribal region, as seen in the videos released by the TIP.[16] The TIP's media production house is known "Islam Awazi" and produces messages both in Chinese and Turkic languages. It also produces messages dubbed into Russian for jihadist organizations in the Caucasus. The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) is the same as Islamic Party of Turkistan (TIP), with Turkistan also spelled Turkestan.

China has always expressed concern that ETIM members are operating from their bases in the Pakistani tribal region. However, China and Pakistan are close allies, a factor that has prevented the Chinese leadership from speaking openly against Pakistan. On their part, the Pakistani leaders have repeatedly expressed resolve to capture and hand over the ETIM members to China.

In a January 16, 2012 video released from its base in the Pakistani tribal region, the TIP identified its spokesman as Yahya, who speaks in Russian and addresses the jihadist groups in the Caucasus.[17] In the video statement, Yahya noted that TIP mujahideen are fighting in China and Khorasan (Afghanistan and Waziristan region), and also introduced Abdul Al-Aziz as a Uyghur representative (see the above image).[18]

ETIM Core Leadership – Wanted by China

ETIM members wanted by China (Image courtesy: xinhuanet.com)

According to the April 5, 2012 statement issued by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, the six ETIM members – identified as Nurmemet Memetmin, Abdulkyum Kurban, Paruh Tursun, Tursunjan Ebibla, Nurmemet Raxit and Mamat Imin Nurmamat – organized, planned and executed terror attacks against Chinese targets within and outside China.[19] While the ETIM's top leadership remains based in the Pakistani tribal region, it is possible that the six individuals identified by the Chinese officials comprise the ETIM's core leadership in Xinjiang.

Of the six militants, Nurmemet Memetmin, 47, is one of the founding leaders of ETIM. According to the statement, Nurmemet Memetmin "set up a terrorist training camp in a South Asian country [Pakistan] in 1997 and acted as a military instructor there… [and] trained dozens of terrorists, some of whom later became ringleaders, military instructors and core members."[20]

Nurmemet Memetmin is also accused by Chinese officials of sending, in 2007, ETIM member Memtieli Tiliwaldi to China, who along with others was involved in various acts of murder, bombing, and arson in Kashgar, Xinjiang, in July 2011. Abdulkyum Kurban, 30, is a leading member of the group and head of the ETIM's propaganda unit. In August and October 2011, Kurban was accused of releasing video statements, calling upon ETIM members to carry out suicide attacks in China.

The other four ETIM members wanted by China are Paruh Tursun, 40; Tursunjan Ebibla, 30; Nurmemet Raxit, 42; and Mamat Imin Nurmamat, 29.[21] All are accused by officials in China's Xinjiang province of recruiting terrorists and planning and carrying out terror attacks.

ETIM's Relationship with the Pakistani Taliban and Al-Qaeda – Videos Show Uyghur Children Training in Pakistan

ETIM videos show children training in Waziristan

In a communiqué dated March 28, 2010, the TIP clarified that it follows an Islamic ideology and does not associate with secular and democratic Uyghur groups opposed to Chinese rule in Xinjiang. The communiqué stated: "East Turkestan [i.e. Xinjiang] was for centuries an indivisible part of the Islamic world… All this time faith had been deeply implanted in the hearts of the Muslims in this land, and they lived happy lives in the shade of Koranic rule, through which they were masters of this world."[22]

It further noted: "The Turkistan Islamic Party was a product of the events occurring in East Turkistan, and it is this land's hope for a return of Islamic life and the implementation of Allah's shari'a in it, under the shade of a rightly-guided Islamic Caliphate. Allah said [Koran 8:39]: 'Fight them until there is no more unbelief, and religion is entirely Allah's.' The Turkistan Islamic Party considers any retreat from these principles to be apostasy, error, and treason to Allah, His Prophet, and the mujahideen."[23]

In August 2009, the TIP released a 39-minute video, via jihadist websites, calling on the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province to wage jihad against the Chinese rule.[24] The video showed Abdul Haq aka Maimaitiming Maimaiti stating: "What is the path to escape the oppression of Chinese Communism? Islam calls on us to free ourselves from every taghut [lit: idol; here, a non-Muslim ruler] and infidel and guides us to the path of salvation. Jihad… in the shari'a is for the Muslims to dedicate their efforts to fighting infidels, rebels, apostates, and others like them…. If the enemy occupies [even] an inch of the Muslims' lands, jihad becomes an individual obligation on the people of that town, and if they are not able to repel the invading enemy, the circle of individual obligation extends to those [Muslims] neighboring them…"[25]

In August 2010, the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) released a video showing Uyghur children based in the Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan undergoing martial arts and military training (see above image).[26] The video also showed young girls studying at a madrassa, boys being taught by a cleric, and children targeting a picture of Chinese President Hu Jintao.[27]

Amid the growing Chinese crackdown on ETIM members in Xinjiang, the militants are "fleeing to Pakistan and settling down there for future plots."[28] In 2010, an Indian newspaper, citing unidentified sources, reported that the ETIM has set up a "Chinese battalion" of about 320 members as part of the Taliban.[29] The report also noted: "The ETIM has been in close collaboration with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden... It is not hard for them [ETIM members] to hide in Pakistan. They have similar religious beliefs, appearance and languages as the locals."[30]

In October 2011, the Al-Qaeda media company Al-Fajr released a 43-minute video produced by the Turkistan Islamic Party, titled "The Believers on the Road."[31] The video showed Uyghur fighters training somewhere in the Pakistani tribal region and visiting a market in an unidentified Pakistani town to shop for weapons and necessities of everyday life such as livestock and vegetables.[32]

* Tufail Ahmad is Director of MEMRI's South Asia Studies Project (www.memri.org/sasp)