Author: Reuters
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 15, 2008
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/349004.html
The leader of China's restive far-western
region of Xinjiang has warned of a "life and death struggle" against
terrorism, following a series of attacks that raised fears of threats to the
Olympic Games.
The oil-rich region, which borders Pakistan
and Afghanistan, has been hit with three separate attacks on Government posts
in the past two weeks that authorities blame on Muslim separatists seeking
to disrupt the Games.
Xinjiang Communist Party secretary Wang Lequan
"pointed out that leaders at all levels must deeply understand that the
struggle against the 'three forces' is one of life or death", Thursday's
Xinjiang Daily said, referring to terrorism, separatism and religious extremism,
forces China says are threats to its security and unity.
It accused extremists in Xinjiang, more than
3,000 km from Beijing, of seeking a separate state of East Turkestan, but
critics charge such threats have been exaggerated by a regime bent on controlling
the culture and religion of the minority ethnic Uighurs who populate the region.
"In Xinjiang, the fight against separatist
forces is long-term, arduous and complex," the newspaper quoted Wang
as telling a leadership meeting.
Security forces must "stick to a strategy
of seizing the initiative to strike pre-emptively, closely guard against and
attack separatist sabotage by the three forces and never allow our enemies
to gain strength".
He said an attack on August 4 in the region's
Silk Road city of Kashgar that killed 16 police was planned, organised and
premeditated terrorist violence".
The region has since seen further violence,
on Sunday, when suicide bombers launched a dozen attacks with homemade grenades
in the town of Kuqa.
Beijing's Olympic organisers have said that
Xinjiang separatists are seeking to use the platform of the Games to "amplify
the effects" of their attacks.
