Updated at 3.50 p.m. ET on 2013-05-09

Chinese authorities at a university in the troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang have detained at least three ethnic minority Uyghur students, according to a Uyghur website and an exile group.

Three detained students at Tarim University in Aksu prefecture were named by the Uyghur Online website (Uyghurbiz.net) as Alimjan, Dilshat and Ibrahim, although reports of a further five detentions had been received, with their identities unconfirmed, it said.

Uyghur Online said the students were taken away from Tarim University by police from nearby Aral (in Chinese, Ala'er) city in early May, adding that Ibrahim was detained after being accused of "having overseas contacts."

A lecturer at Tarim University surnamed Li said he hadn't heard of the arrests, but confirmed that security had been tightened in the wake of last month's violence in nearby Kashgar, in the region's south.

"They have definitely stepped up security awareness, because there was that incident in Xinjiang a few days back," Li said.

"Our university must obey orders from above, and be on our guard," he added.

Calls to the university principal's office went unanswered during office hours on Thursday.

However, an officer who answered the phone at the campus police station didn't deny the detentions had taken place.

Asked if Alimjan had been detained, he replied: "If you want to know what happened to that individual, you will have to ask our leader."

But he declined to comment further. "The leader isn't here and I can't really talk about this topic."

April violence

The April 23 violence in Siriqbuya (in Chinese, Selibuya) township in Kashgar prefecture's Maralbeshi (Bachu) county left 21 dead, and officials have said that 19 Uyghur suspects have been held.

Chinese authorities blamed the violence on Uyghur "terrorists," but rights groups and experts familiar with the region say Beijing exaggerates the terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest or to justify the authorities' use of force against the Uyghur minority.

The Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has called for more transparency about the case, including information about Uyghurs killed and arrested, as well as details of any terrorist group they may have been linked to.

Sweden-based WUC spokesman Dilxat Raxit said the Maralbeshi county incident had prompted a huge security operation in higher education institutions across the region.

"Students in higher education are being 'disappeared,' and the authorities are refusing to give any reasons for their detention," Raxit said.

He said the WUC lacked clear information on the exact number of Uyghur students detained at Tarim University, however.

"There are reports that eight Uyghurs have been taken away by police, and that no one knows what has become of them," he said.

Tarim University was built in 1958 by the army-backed Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, also known as the "bingtuan."

The People's Liberation Army production companies, or bingtuan, are units of command that enable Beijing to maintain key areas and exploit rich resources in the largely Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang, according to exile groups.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness, blaming the problems partly on the influx of Han Chinese into the region.

Separately, Raxit said, police in Kashgar's Peyziwat (in Chinese, Jiashi) county had launched an investigation of more than 1,000 residents of Gholtoghraq (in Chinese, Wolituogelake) village after finding handbills written in Uyghur saying "Our dignity cannot be trampled."

He said the authorities had confiscated copies of the Quran and electronic reading devices from more than 260 local people in recent days.

An officer who answered the phone at a police station in Peyziwat county denied that any handbills had been found there.

Patrols increased

Meanwhile, an employee who answered the phone at a local hotel said police had stepped up security checks in recent days.

"There are a lot of police patrolling the streets, carrying out more checks," the employee said.

Random interviews by RFA's Uyghur Service showed that security in many other areas in Xinjiang have also been stepped up after the violence in Siriqbuya.

In Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital, ruling Chinese Communist Party cadres would carry out spot checks in a bid to keep tabs on the overall security situation, a Uyghur man told RFA's Uyghur Service last week.

"They come without warning. They come in a group of five or six. They walk around checking," he said.

He said he was informed that similar checks were also taking place in Uyghur-populated areas.

In Kashgar, a Uyghur farmer in Kashgar's Yerken county said residents have become used to random checks.

Security officials sometimes lifted the veils covering the faces of Uyghur women for identification purposes, the farmer said.

"There are a lot of incidents, like unveiling the covered-up women and such," he said.

In southern Hotan city, a Chinese immigrant worker said police patrols have also intensified.

"We do not know what happened, but there are police everywhere," he said. "I did not hear about the Siriqbuya incident but now I am used to the police patrols."

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service, Hai Nan for the Cantonese service and Gulchihre Keyum for the Uyghur Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie and Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Authorities in Shanghai have detained six Muslim Uyghurs following clashes between police and dozens of protesting Uyghur street vendors outside a major mosque in the city, residents and exile Uyghurs said.

"At least six people are currently being held by the Shanghai state security police," said Dilxat Raxit, Sweden-based spokesman for the exile World Uyghur Congress.

The Uyghurs gathered and held cardboard placards on Friday in protest at ethnic discrimination after they were barred from selling food outside the mosque, eyewitnesses and local residents told RFA.

"It happened after Friday prayers," said an employee who answered the phone on Monday at a mosque on Changde road, which is frequented by Uyghurs.

"Normally the Uyghurs sell their stuff in front of the mosque ... but the street vendors were no longer allowed to sell there," he said.

"They have families to feed. If they aren't allowed to sell their stuff, how are they going to live?"

He said police attacked and beat some protesters, dispersing them.

Women beaten

A second Uyghur man who saw the clashes confirmed his account.

"When we went to prayer, they started to expel Uyghur ladies from the front yard of the mosque," he said. "There were around 200 police there. The protesters were mostly Uyghur females, about fifty of them."

He said he had been surprised that the police had beaten some of the women. "We thought they wouldn't attack, because they were only women," he said. "But they attacked them and dispersed them."

He added there had been a strong police and urban management, or chengguan, presence before the protest, which appeared to be spontaneous.

"They just did it to oppose the government’s decision to displace them from where they were plying their trade," he said, adding that this was the first time such a crackdown had targeted Uyghur food-vendors.

Raxit said the vendors had been threatened by the authorities with expulsion from Shanghai.

"According to our sources on the ground, the authorities are implementing some forcible measures to send home the Uyghurs that are currently doing business there," he said.

"This is unacceptable to them, and there was a demonstration of nearly 100 Uyghurs, mostly women, against discriminatory government [internal] repatriation policies."

'Internal repatriation'

Under China's nationwide "stability maintenance" system, internal repatriation is frequently used as a means of targeting those whom local governments view as a threat.

Dissidents, rights activists, and anyone believed to be a potential troublemaker can be forced to return to the town of their birth, regardless of how long they have lived or worked in a different city.

Photos posted online showed a group of Uyghur women and children gathering in the middle of a city street and holding up cardboard signs saying, "President Xi Jinping, you should care about the people."

An employee who answered the phone at a mosque in Shanghai's Putuo district said the protesters were mostly street vendors who had been plying a busy trade in the streets around the mosque in recent days, particularly around Friday prayers.

He said large numbers of police had arrived at the scene after some stallholders protested against being moved on from the site.

"Putuo district is in the middle of a civic pride campaign, so they don't want them to put [their stalls] there," the employee said. "Some of the Uyghurs were saying, 'Well, if you won't let us set up there, where are we going to set up?'"

"They still haven't reached an agreement with the government, and they don't want to leave [this area,] although they block traffic sometimes."

An employee who answered the phone at the Shanghai representative office of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region said no one was available to take questions over the holiday weekend.

'Outsiders'

An eyewitness who saw the demonstration said the Uyghurs had been selling Muslim (Halal) food outside a mosque frequented by Chinese Hui Muslims in Shanghai for the past few months.

"These people are mostly Uyghur farmers who lost their land, or unemployed Uyghur youths," said the owner of a nearby restaurant. "All of them came from Xinjiang."

"The Shanghai government wasn't happy about this, because the Uyghurs aren't Shanghai residents, and they might pollute the streets," said the restaurant owner, who declined to give his name.

An employee who answered the phone at a Muslim restaurant in the district said the police had detained some people during the protest.

"It happened outside the mosque," he said. "They were arresting people, that's right." He appeared willing to speak further, but was suddenly cut off by someone close by.

A woman's voice said: "I'm sorry, this has nothing to do with our restaurant ... We were at work all day [Saturday] and we don't know what you're talking about," she said, before hanging up.

The protest came less than two weeks after clashes near Kashgar, in the south of Xinjiang, left more than 20 people dead, mostly Uyghurs, in the worst violence since deadly ethnic riots rocked the the regional capital of Urumqi in 2009.

Beijing has blamed the violence on "terrorists," although it said there was no international link to the clashes, and has provided scant details of how the deaths took place.

Call for international pressure

Raxit said exile Uyghur dissident and World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer had called on the international community to pay attention to Beijing's discriminatory policies targeting Uyghurs.

In a recent interview with RFA, Kadeer called on governments around the world to put pressure on Beijing over repeated violations of Uyghurs'
civil rights and threats to their physical safety.

"If China doesn't uphold the right of Uyghurs to demonstrate in Shanghai, this could prompt a strong backlash once more," Raxit said. "We are extremely concerned about this."

The April 23 violence in Siriqbuya (in Chinese, Selibuya) township in Kashgar prefecture's Maralbeshi (Bachu) county left 21 dead, and officials have said that 19 Uyghur suspects have been held.

Chinese authorities blamed the violence on Uyghur "terrorists," but the World Uyghur Congress has called for more transparency about the case, including information about Uyghurs killed and arrested, as well as details of any terrorist group they may have been linked to.

Rights groups and experts familiar with the region say Beijing exaggerates the terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest or to justify the authorities' use of force against the Uyghur minority.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness, blaming the problems partly on the influx of Han Chinese into the region.

Reported by Rukiye Turdush and Gülchéhre Keyyum for RFA's Uyghur Service, Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service, and Hai Nan for the Cantonese Service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma and Luisetta Mudie. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

An exile group has challenged Chinese authorities to reveal the identities of ethnic Uyghurs killed in last week's deadly violence in China's northwestern Xinjiang region and those subsequently arrested and accused of being terrorists.

The April 23 violence in Siriqbuya (in Chinese, Selibuya) township in Kashgar prefecture's Maralbeshi (Bachu) county left 21 dead, and officials have said that 19 Uyghur suspects have been held.

Chinese authorities blamed the violence on Uyghur "terrorists," but the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) challenged them to be open about the case and provide the identities of the Uyghurs killed and those who have been arrested and their whereabouts, as well as details of the terrorist group to which they have been linked.

The authorities, unlike in previous cases of clashes involving Uyghurs, have provided some details of the latest violence but these are "inadequate and questionable," Dolkun Isa, the WUC's executive committee chairman, told RFA's Uyghur Service.

He said the Uyghur suspects arrested as "terrorists" or their families have not been allowed to respond to the various allegations made against them by the authorities.

"We call on the Chinese government to permit independent news organizations to fully investigate the violence and give us a clearer picture about it," Dolkun Isa said.

“Unlike past violent incidents implicating Uyghurs in which the government hushed up information in the interest of state security, this time it allowed the Chinese media to provide some information on the violence, and we welcome it," he said.

"But all the facts have to be put on the table."

Probe

Dolkun Isa said that as the accused have not been allowed to rebut the allegations, the authorities should allow an independent probe into the Maralbeshi violence—the worst since ethnic clashes between Uyghurs and Han Chinese rocked Xinjiang's regional capital of Urumqi in 2009, killing nearly 200.  

In total, 16 Uyghurs, three Han Chinese, and two Mongolians were killed in the latest violence.

Chinese state media and propaganda officials first said the clashes erupted when community officials were searching Uyghur homes for illegal knives and then said they stumbled upon “terrorists” watching "jihad" movies.

Later they said some of the Uyghurs confronted by the officials were studying the Quran, the interpretation of which is strictly controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Then, state media claimed some of the suspects allegedly were making explosives at the time of the raid.

Official media said 10 of the deceased Uyghurs were among the community officials while six others were "terrorist" suspects.

Dolkun Isa said the authorities should also provide details of the so-called terrorist group behind the violence.

Explosives

State news agency Xinhua, citing Xinjiang police, said the suspects were from a "terrorist group" that was founded in September 2012 and that the deadly clashes broke out when they were caught making explosives.

The group was led by Kasmu Memet, who began hosting Quran study sessions in September, according to an account from the Xinjiang police that was posted to official websites.

In March, they began manufacturing swords and conducting test explosions in preparation for carrying out a major attack this summer in densely populated areas of Kashgar, the account said.

“China claims this is organized crime, [that] it was well prepared and organized for a terrorist attack, but it did not provide the name and the objective of the organization. What kind organization is this?" Dolkun Isa asked.

Chinese authorities also said they found no foreign links to the latest violence, diverging from past claims that attacks were planned by overseas Uyghur activists or connected to the global jihadi movement.

"They have finally recognized that the Maralbeshi violence is not linked to outside terrorist organizations. Even if we look at the information obtained so far,  it does not appear to be a planed terrorist attack," Dolkun Isa said.

“We call on the Chinese government to continue to release information about the Maralbeshi violence and resolve the root cause of the tensions and conflict by changing Chinese policy toward Uyghur religious practices and Uyghur language as well as culture in East Turkestan [Xinjiang]," he said.

He also called on the authorities to account for the thousands of Uyghurs reported missing following the 2009 Urumqi riots, most of whom were believed taken into custody by authorities in large-scale sweep operations.

Rights groups and experts familiar with the region say Beijing exaggerates a terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest or to justify the authorities' use of force against the Uyghur minority.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness, blaming the problems partly on the influx of Han Chinese into the region.

Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur Service. Translated by Dolkun Kamberi. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

Authorities in the troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang have begun keeping registers of religious believers, in a fresh move that appears targeted at the region's population of 9 million mostly Muslim Uyghurs, many of whom chafe under Chinese rule.

Photos of such a register from the offices of the Bulaqsu township government near Kashgar city were circulated online this week, showing the assignment of various categories to those on the register, including "strongly religious but holds no religious office," "woman who wears a veil," and "person studying the Quran."

While repeated calls to the Bulaqsu township government offices went unanswered during office hours on Thursday, a Uyghur resident of Bulaqsu confirmed the report.

"Now they do," he said, when asked if religious believers needed to register with the government.

A second Uyghur resident of Bulaqsu also confirmed the reports.

"That's right," she said, when asked about the registration of religious households. "Yes," she replied, when asked if women who wore veils and men who wore traditional Muslim clothing also had to register.

"I don't [wear a veil]," she said.

'Priority surveillance'

The photos, posted on the Uyghur Online website, showed registration documents dated 2013, which categorized the people registered according to their beliefs and activities, as well as adding key personal information about them, including their personal circumstances, level of religious knowledge, current attitudes and social connections.

The documents also identified whether a person was a target for "priority surveillance."

An official who answered the phone at the Shufu county government offices near Kashgar declined to comment on the reports, referring enquiries to the religious affairs bureau.

An official at the bureau didn't deny the reports, but declined to comment without permission from local leaders.

While residents of Bulaqsu confirmed independently the existence of registers of religious households in their village, China's special security provision for the whole of Xinjiang means that the practice is likely to be part of a region-wide strategy, observers say.

There are tight security restrictions in Xinjiang that don't necessarily apply in the rest of China. Exile Uyghur groups and residents say it's a separate and highly prioritized security strategy for the region.

The news of the registration comes as Kashgar recovers from deadly clashes last week, the worst single episode of violence since riots between Han Chinese and Uyghurs rocked the Xinjiang capital Urumqi in July 2009. The Urumqi bloodshed prompted a region-wide blackout of the Internet and cell phone coverage that lasted for months.

Meanwhile, a Uyghur resident of Hotan, another city in the south of the region, said the registration books covering religious believers were held by officials in every village, and that local people didn't know what they contained.

"Yes," he said. "They've all got them." But he seemed unwilling to comment further.

A Han Chinese resident of the regional capital of Urumqi, where nearly 200 people were left dead in the 2009 deadly ethnic clashes according to official figures, said the authorities were afraid that a strong interest in religion would encourage anti-Beijing sentiment among local Uyghurs.

"The problems mostly occur among the sort of people who are very religious, because their beliefs unite them, and strengthen their ethnic identity," Wang  said.

"I think the government is trying to get everything it can on such people so as to be prepared," he said. "They are afraid there will be an incident."

Acts of 'terrorism'

Last Tuesday, 21 people were killed in clashes in Siriqbuya (in Chinese, Selibuya) township in Kashgar prefecture. Two days later, there were clashes in Hotan's Yengi Awat (Yingawa) village, leaving two people dead.

Police have arrested 19 suspects in connection with the Siriqbuya clashes.

Chinese state media and propaganda officials first said the clashes erupted when community officials were searching Uyghur homes for illegal knives and then said they stumbled upon “terrorists” watching 'jihad' movies.

Later they said some of the Uyghurs confronted by the officials were studying the Quran, the interpretation of which is strictly controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Then, the state media claimed some of the suspects allegedly were making explosives.

While Chinese authorities blamed the violence on Uyghur "terrorists," rights groups and experts familiar with the region say Beijing exaggerates a terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest or to justify the authorities' use of force against the Uyghur minority.

The Xinjiang government on Wednesday launched a new crackdown on millions of cell phone users, requiring anyone buying a SIM card for use with a cell phone to provide proof of identity and register the card to their own name.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

A U.S. bipartisan commission proposed Tuesday that Vietnam be returned to a State Department list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedoms and that Burma, despite ongoing political reforms, be maintained on the blacklist.

Vietnam, under one-party communist rule, “continues to expand control over all religious activities [and] severely restrict independent religious practice,” the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms (USCIRF) said in an annual report.

Though religious activity has grown in Vietnam in recent years, the government continues to “repress individuals and religious groups it views as challenging its authority,” it said.

The State Department  included Vietnam on its list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) in 2004 but removed it from the blacklist two years later and has since ignored repeated calls by the commission to reinstate the country’s designation.

For the 2013 report, USCIRF recommended that Secretary of State John Kerry maintain eight countries on the CPC list: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan.

USCIRF also urged that in addition to Vietnam, six other countries receive CPC designation:  Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

Speaking in an interview, USCIRF chair Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett expressed hope that Vietnam would this year be returned to the list.

“We’re hopeful that our report will make the case,” Swett told RFA.

“The Vietnamese government is still using vague national security laws to suppress independent Buddhists, Protestants, Hoa Hao, and Cao Dai activities,” Swett said.

“And they are definitely working to stop the growth of ethnic minority Protestantism and Catholicism through discrimination, instances of violence, and repeated episodes of forced denunciations of faith.”

“It’s still a very concerning situation, and one that we believe does merit CPC designation,” Swett said.

Uneven reforms

Though Burma took important steps during the last year to advance political reforms in the formerly military-ruled country, “these reforms have not yet improved religious freedom conditions,” USCIRF said, adding that Burma should again be named a CPC.

Treatment of the country’s Rohingya Muslim ethnic minority has been especially troubling, Swett said.

The report said that in sectarian violence over the period between June and October 2012, more than 1,000 Rohingyas were killed—a number more than five times higher than the official total death toll of 192 dead.

“Their villages and religious structures were destroyed [and] large numbers of women were raped,” Swett said.

“And so despite multiple political reforms and progress in a positive direction in the overall political situation in Burma, the religious freedom situation remains grave enough to merit CPC status."

Violence between Muslims and Buddhists continued to occur in Burma in 2013 with U.S.-based Human Rights Watch charging last week that Burmese authorities have committed crimes against humanity in a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” against Muslim Rohingyas.

The USCIRF report said that though cases of the forced conversion of ethnic minority Christians to Buddhism were noted in Burma, abuses also targeted clergy of the country’s majority Buddhist faith.

“The government closely monitors monasteries viewed as focal points of anti-government activity and has restricted usual religious practices in these areas,” USCIRF said, adding that monks identified as protest organizers have been charged under “vague national security provisions.”

“Sadly, these abuses appear to be occurring with impunity,” said Swett.

Deteriorating conditions

In China, religious freedom conditions  “have deteriorated quite significantly—particularly, of course, in Tibet and for Tibetan Buddhists, and for Uyghur Muslims as well,” Swett said, adding that “China again absolutely merits CPC designation.”

“The restriction of religious activity causes deep resentment in Tibetan and Uyghur communities,” USCIRF noted in its report.

The Chinese government has “intensified efforts to discredit religious leaders, issued new measures to increase government oversight of monasteries and mosques, and implemented new ‘education’ programs to ensure the loyalty of Buddhist monks and ‘weaken the religious consciousness’ of Uyghur Muslims.”

“There are hundreds of Tibetans and Uyghurs in prison for their religious activity or religious freedom advocacy,” USCIRF said.

Meanwhile, Protestants who refuse to join state-approved religious organizations face harassment and fines, detentions, and in some instances imprisonment, added Swett.

“Their ‘house church’ activity is considered to be illegal, and our evidence is that 900 Protestants were detained in the past year for simply conducting public worship activities. And we believe that there are seven significant Protestant leaders who were imprisoned for terms longer than a year.”

“The government has issued a directive to eradicate these groups,” Swett said, adding, “A similar situation faces the independent or unregistered Catholic community.”

China’s “most brutal” measures of religious suppression are aimed at eradicating the Falun Gong spiritual movement, though, Swett said.

“Practitioners continue to face arbitrary arrest, forced renunciations of their faith, torture, and psychiatric experiments.”

“And there has been some evidence of organ harvesting, particularly targeting the Falun Gong.”

“That community continues to be on the receiving end of the most harsh and brutal tactics used by the Chinese government when it comes to suppressing religious freedom,” said Swett.

‘Deplorable record’

North Korea, meanwhile, “remains one of the world’s most repressive regimes, with a deplorable human rights and religious freedom record,” USCIRF noted in its report.

And because North Korea’s government promotes a cult of personality surrounding the Kim dynasty of North Korean leaders, USCIRF said, “Any activity perceived to challenge [present leader] Kim Jong Un’s legitimacy, including clandestine religious activity, continues to be viewed as a security threat.”

“People caught transporting Bibles or engaged in any sort of missionary activity … face torture and execution and imprisonment,” said Swett.

“The repression of all unapproved religious activities can only be described as incredibly brutal.”

“North Korea clearly is a CPC, and I think there’s wide agreement on that,” Swett said.

Watch List

Laos remains on USCIRF’s Tier 2 “Watch List” for continuing “serious religious freedom abuses,” USCIRF said in its report.

Countries on the Tier 2 Watch List are “on the threshold of CPC status, meaning that the violations engaged in or tolerated by the government are particularly severe,” the commission says.

“The Lao legal code restricts religious practice, and the government is either unable or unwilling to curtail ongoing religious freedom abuses in some provincial areas,” according to the USCIRF report.

Though religious freedom conditions have improved over the last five years for majority Buddhist groups and other religious communities in urban areas, “our concern and our problems lie primarily with provincial officials and the status of communities in the provinces,” said Swett.

“There we see continued violations of religious freedom for ethnic minority Protestants, who face detention, surveillance, harassment, property confiscation, and in some instances forced renunciations of faith.”

This is a situation that has varied by region and by religious group, Swett said.

“[But] the improvements have not been sufficient in our view to warrant moving Laos entirely off of that Tier 2 status.”

Chinese authorities in the troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang have launched a new crackdown on millions of cell phone users amid tight security in the wake of last week's violence in the south of the region.

New regulations from the Xinjiang regional government's communications bureau will require anyone buying a SIM card for use with a cell phone to provide proof of identity and register the card to their own name, sources in the regional capital Urumqi said.

In accordance with the special regulations governing Xinjiang, which is home to 9 million minority Uyghurs and is the scene of recurring ethnic violence, the bureau has been meeting with sales representatives for mobile network operators to train them in implementing the "real-name" registration system for SIM cards, according to an Urumqi-based sales representative surnamed Zhang.

"As of May 1, the sellers will be required under the real-name system to ensure that the customer produces their own identity documents," Zhang said.

"They must then transmit a photo of the original ID document to the mobile service provider," he said.

"The traveling sales reps have been called to a meeting every day [since Saturday] to learn about the real-name system," Zhang said.

"My first reaction was not to believe it, because it affects such a large number of customers," he said.

Zhang said local service providers had already begun cutting off service to existing customers to force them to register before continuing to use the service.

"There are a lot of cards already in customers' possession out there," he said. "It's going to have a huge impact on society if you suddenly cut off people's service while they're already using it, and make them reregister," he said.

Xinjiang violence

The move comes just days after 21 people were killed in clashes in Siriqbuya (in Chinese, Selibuya) township in Kashgar prefecture, and after clashes in Hotan's Yengi Awat (Yingawa) village left two people dead.

Police have arrested 19 suspects in connection with the clashes, while propaganda officials and state media have reported that the "terrorists" were caught making explosives and meeting secretly to study the Koran, the interpretation of which is strictly controlled by China's ruling Communist Party.

Chinese authorities blamed the violence on Uyghur "terrorists," but rights groups and experts familiar with the region say Beijing exaggerates a terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest or to justify the authorities' use of force against the Uyghur minority.

The Kashgar violence was the worst single episode since deadly clashes between Han Chinese and Uyghurs rocked the Xinjiang capital Urumqi in July 2009, prompting a region-wide blackout of the Internet and cell phone coverage that lasted for months.

Previous attempt

At attempt to force pay-as-you-go SIM card customers to register using their real names was made in 2010 in the wake of the Urumqi clashes, but wasn't widely implemented because sales personnel quietly allowed people to buy cards using other people's identities, Zhang said.

"The sales agents got around this by borrowing people's details in large numbers to acquire registration for them, and then reselling the SIM cards in the market," he said.

A directive issued to the region's railways and seen by RFA also requires the administration to clear unofficial hawkers of second-hand phones away from railway property by May 1, in an apparent bid to limit the resale of phones and SIM cards on the black market.

A sales representative at Urumqi Hongshan's flagship mobile phone store confirmed the new move to implement real-name registration from was going ahead on the ground from May 1.

"We got a directive through [for implementation] by May 1," the salesperson said.

"If you have bought a SIM card, you have to come to the sales department and register with your real name," he said.

He said the company had no plans to cancel people's phone service over the May 1 Labor Day holiday, however.

"This will probably start on May 2," he said. "When the time comes, our employees will call you or text you to tell you."

Region-wide directive

Customers who choose not to comply will have their service terminated, he said, adding that the company's entire network across the region is undergoing changes and an upgrade.

"There is now a real-name registration system in all locations [in Xinjiang]," he said.

"This is according to a directive sent down from the communications bureau of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region government," he added.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

A Uyghur student at the Beijing-based Central University for Nationalities has been seriously assaulted by his Han Chinese roommates, sparking protests and an order by university authorities for the two ethnic groups to be housed separately in a bid to ease tensions, according to a student.

Memetjan Ali, a third-year student majoring in Uyghur language and literature, was beaten last Wednesday, a day after the worst violence in four years occurred in China's northwestern Xinjiang region—home to the mostly Muslim minority Uyghurs who complain of discrimination by the country’s majority Han Chinese.

Memetjan Ali was watching television with his three Han Chinese roommates in their dormitory when one of them approached him and squeezed his neck, one of his Uyghur classmates told RFA's Uyghur Service.

Memetjan Ali tried to leave the dorm but he was prevented from doing so, with the other Chinese classmates also joining in and assaulting and abusing him.

"One of the Chinese boys abused him with vulgar words and suddenly punched his face. At that moment, another one hit his head with a chair from his back while one of them held him firmly," the classmate said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The seriously injured Memetjan Ali has been hospitalized with his condition reported as stable, but the incident has raised concerns among his Uyghur university mates.

Some of them gathered at the university's grounds, demanding justice and urgent medical attention for him, the classmate said.

Three detained

The three Chinese students were detained, but two of them were released after questioning, he said. It is not immediately clear whether charges will be pressed on any one of them.

The university authorities have paid for Memetjan Ali’s medical expenses, according to nurses in the hospital.

To ease tensions at the university, the authorities decided to have Uyghurs and Han Chinese stay separately in the dormitories.

“Now Uyghur students are staying with Uyghur students in the dormitory and we feel more secure than before,” said one Uyghur female student.

But another student said: “That doesn’t mean we are safe."

"We are still living in a Chinese city, studying in a Chinese school, and we are outnumbered.”

RFA's Mandarin Service called up the university to inquire about the alleged assault but a staffer said, "We are not clear what's going on."

The university's students department, when contacted, said, "We never heard of this incident."

Exile Uyghur activists linked the incident to the April 23 violence in Siriqbuya (Selibuya) township in Xinjiang's Kashgar prefecture in which 21 people were killed.

Chinese authorities blamed the violence on Uyghur "terrorists," but rights groups and experts familiar with the region say Beijing exaggerates a terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest or to justify the authorities' use of force against the Uyghur minority.

Hatred

The charges leveled against the Uyghurs have intensified Han Chinese hatred against the ethnic group, Uyghur activists said.

“Recent Chinese state media’s lies about the violence in Kashgar have increased ethnic hatred again," said Adil Abbas, a Uyghur activist and vice-president of the Uyghur Canadian Society.

"They heavily painted Uyghurs with terrorism charges to cover government violence against the Uyghurs, increasing hatred against the Uyghurs," he said.

"It is obvious that the dominant force of hate crimes such as what happened in the Central University for Nationalities is the Chinese government itself because their state-sponsored media always lies and slanders about the Uyghurs,” Adil Abbas said.

Chinese state media reported Monday that 11 more suspects have been arrested in addition to eight held on the day the Siriqbuya violence occurred.

The state media had charged that the violence erupted after community officials on patrol were attacked by Uyghur "terrorists" armed with knives at a house.

Reinforcements were called, and in the ensuing shootout six of the suspects were killed, state media said. Others were killed either after being slashed by the suspects or burned to death when the house was torched, state media reports said.

In total, 16 Uyghurs, three Han Chinese, and two Mongolians were killed in the Siriqbuya violence—the worst since ethnic clashes between Uyghurs and Han Chinese rocked Xinjiang's regional capital of Urumqi in 2009, killing nearly 200.

State news agency Xinhua, citing Xinjiang police, said on Monday that the suspects were from a "terrorist group" that was founded in September 2012 and that the deadly clashes broke out when they were caught making explosives.

The report said they watched terrorist video clips, had tested explosive devices, and planned to "do something big" in the densely populated areas of Kashgar in the summer.

"The claims of terrorism are suspected of being an excuse to oppress Uyghurs," Dilshat Rexit, a spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, said in an email to Agence France-Presse.

Independent probe

He called on Chinese authorities to publish an independent investigation into their accusations of terrorism, echoing an earlier call by the United States which was dismissed by Beijing as evidence of a "double standard."

A Uyghur farmer in Siriqbuya township told RFA's Uyghur Service that some of those arrested were from the township's Number Three Village.

"They also arrested the uncle and son of a Uyghur man who was [allegedly] involved in the fight. The arrested person’s name was Ahmet Turadin, but I don't know his son’s name," the farmer said.

"Another person who was arrested was renting a house next door to that of Ahmet Turadin."

Security has also been bolstered in Kashgar, with one Uyghur lady who returned to her village from Kashgar late Sunday saying checkpoints had been set up along the highways.

Reported by Rukiye Turdush and Jilil Musha for RFA's Uyghur Service and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated by Mamatjan Juma and Feng Xiaoming. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

Two community police personnel have been killed and three motor vehicles set on fire in China's troubled western region of Xinjiang's Hotan county, Uyghur sources said Friday, triggering a fresh security alert after the worst violence in four years earlier in the week.

The Uyghur Online website reported that investigations were under way following the fresh violence in Hotan's Yengi Awat (in Chinese, Yingawa) village on Thursday, two days after 21 people were killed in clashes in Siriqbuya (Selibuya) township in Kashgar prefecture.

The report did not provide details on the fresh incident in which it said two community security officers were killed and three vehicles burned.

"What we know is that this case is under investigation," the report said, adding that the motive behind the incident has not been identified. "The government did not comment on it."

Security patrols

According to Dilxat Raxit, Sweden-based spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, the Hotan deaths followed clashes between local Muslim Uyghurs, many of whom chafe under Beijing's rule, and local people hired to "maintain stability" and watch over the neighborhood.

"We are still trying to establish the actual cause of the clashes, but one issue is that China has recently stepped up security patrols in the Hotan area," Raxit said in an interview on Friday.

"They have sent large numbers of uniformed personnel there along the state highway from Kashgar, and you can see Chinese military vehicles everywhere, frequently," he said.

In contrast to the earlier clashes, China's official media appeared to remain silent on the new incident and the authorities were reluctant to comment.

An official who answered the phone at the Hotan police department said, "I don't know about this."

Calls to the Hotan district government offices and to the county government that oversees Yingawa village went unanaswered during office hours on Friday.

Stability

The reports emerged as Chinese President Xi Jinping called for stability in the ethnically-divided region after the Siriqbuya violence which Chinese officials and state media said had erupted after community officials on patrol were attacked by Uyghur "terrorists" armed with knives at a house.

Reinforcements were called, and in the ensuing shootout six of the suspects were killed, state media said. Others were killed either after being slashed by the suspects or burned to death when the house was torched, state media reports said.

In total, 16 Uyghurs, three Han Chinese, and two Mongolians were killed in the Siriqbuya violence—the worst since ethnic clashes between Uyghurs and Han Chinese rocked Xinjiang's regional capital of Urumqi in 2009, killing nearly 200.

Xi gave instructions on "how to handle the case, deal with the aftermath, and maintain stability in Xinjiang", the state-run Global Times said on its website, citing a local report, and without quoting Xi's remarks directly.

China on Friday accused the United States of "double standards" for not endorsing Beijing's account of the violence, after officials in Washington said the U.S. was "deeply concerned" by accounts of discrimination against Uyghurs and other Muslims in China.

China accused the U.S. of a "double standard" for not condemning the attack despite being a victim of terror itself.

Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese Service and Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated by Luisetta Mudie and Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

An exiled rights group has called on the U.S. envoy to China to raise human rights violations against the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority with the government in Beijing, two days after 21 people were killed in the worst episode of violence in the restive Xinjiang region in nearly four years.

U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke was visiting Xinjiang with a trade delegation when the clashes took place Tuesday in Maralbeshi (in Chinese, Bachu) county in Kashgar prefecture, and the U.S. State Department has called on Beijing to conduct a “thorough and transparent investigation of this incident.”

Chinese officials and state media said the violence erupted after community officials on patrol were attacked by Uyghur "terrorists" armed with knives at a house in Siriqbuya (in Chinese, Selibuya) township.

Reinforcements were called, and in the ensuing shootout six of the suspects were killed, state media said. Others were killed either after being slashed by the suspects or burned to death when the house was torched, state media reports said.

In total, 16 Uyghurs, three Han Chinese, and two Mongolians were killed in the clashes—the worst since ethnic violence between Uyghurs and Han Chinese rocked Xinjiang's regional capital of Urumqi in 2009, killing nearly 200.

The Washington-based Uyghur American Association (UAA) warned that Chinese media reporting on the incident should be “viewed with extreme caution” given a lack of details and independent verification, and urged the international community to dismiss allegations of a Uyghur terror plot.

The UAA called on Locke to raise any violations against the Uyghurs with the Chinese authorities and urge Beijing to find a “lasting political solution” to their grievances.

“It is vitally important for Ambassador Locke to remind the Chinese authorities that the constant attack on Uyghur identity, language, culture, religion, and ethnicity, as well as equating Uyghurs’ legitimate grievances with terrorism, separatism, and extremism, will not bring long-term peace and stability to the region,” said UAA President Alim Seytoff in a statement.

The UAA said that since the unrest of 2009, China had intensified its repression of the Uyghur people through “heavy-handed security measures” and the “arbitrary use of lethal force.”

It said that in addition to deploying anti-terror forces into Xinjiang following the clashes, authorities had also created “neighborhood watch offices” in areas of the region populated by Uyghurs, such as Kashgar and Hotan, to “spy” on the ethnic group.

“These offices were tasked to report any Uyghur from out of town or any kind of Uyghur gathering, even in the privacy of their house, to police or security personnel patrolling the area,” the group said.

“Subsequently, it results in an immediate unlawful house search by neighborhood watch officers and sometimes arbitrary use of lethal force by security personnel for any kind of resistance, causing the deaths of many people, with authorities usually labeling the Uyghurs involved as ‘terrorists’.”

Terror plot?

New York-based DWnews.com quoted anonymous official sources as saying that Tuesday’s incident was triggered after three community officials discovered a “terrorist” group watching a “terrorist” video during a house-to-house search.

It said that the officials, who had also found a cache of knives, reported the matter to police who soon after arrived on the scene with the police station chief and a group of officers.

“When they arrived at the scene, they found the three officials killed. The police chief was the only one armed with a gun among his team,” the Chinese-language report said, without providing the police chief’s name.

“When his six rounds of ammunition were exhausted, the terror group used a 1.2-meter [4-foot] knife to kill him and the other policemen.”

DWnews said the group “burned down the house with the bodies in it,” adding that among the community officials killed in the clash was ethnic Mongolian deputy town mayor Sung Chao.

The Global Times, an official Chinese media organization, reported that the remaining police officers had taken eight men into custody during the incident.

It said the “terrorists may have set a trap” in luring police officers and to their home before setting upon them with knives, quoting local officials.

Chinese authorities often accuse Uyghurs of terrorist activities, but experts familiar with the region have said Beijing exaggerates a terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest.

The Munich-based World Uyghur Congress (WUC) maintained that the clash was sparked by the shooting and killing of a young Uyghur by Chinese security forces that fired into a crowd angered over the illegal search of homes.

And an eyewitness told RFA's Uyghur Service on Wednesday that when a Uyghur woman refused to lift her veil during a search of area homes, a neighborhood watch officer forced her to do so, sparking the conflict.

Investigation urged

The United States on Wednesday urged China to carry out a full probe of the violence and "take steps to reduce tensions and promote long-term stability in Xinjiang."

"We urge the Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation of this incident and to provide all Chinese citizens—including Uyghurs—the due-process protections to which they're entitled," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters.

But China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Thursday said the U.S. was using a “double standard” for not outright condemning the attack while also recently suffering from an act of terror, and said Washington should “reflect on its own problems.”

Three people were killed and more than 260 injured when two explosions occurred at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15. Two young men, one of whom was killed in a shootout with police, are suspected of having carried out the attack.

“We are firmly opposed to the U.S. confusing black and white, right and wrong. Not only do they not condemn violent terrorist attacks, but they also make casual and irresponsible accusations against China’s ethnic policy,” she said.

“We hope the U.S. can respect the most basic facts and stop the wrong practice of using double standards. They should look at themselves in the mirror more often to see all the problems in their own country instead of making casual accusations against other countries.”

In Xinjiang, rights groups say that the Chinese authorities are indiscriminately jailing Uyghurs in the name of fighting terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism, and are intensifying the influx of Han Chinese in the region.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness.

Reported by RFA’s Uyghur Service. Translated by Dolkun Kamberi. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Twenty-one people have been killed in clashes in the troubled northwestern region of Xinjiang, reports said Wednesday, amid charges by exile groups that the violence stemmed from persistent raids by the Chinese authorities on ethnic Uyghur homes.

Local authorities said the violence Tuesday in Maralbeshi (in Chinese, Bachu) county in Kashgar prefecture erupted after community officials were "seized" by "rioters" in the home of a local resident while they were patrolling the area.

There was a shootout by the authorities and the house in Siriqbuya (in Chinese, Selibuya) township was burned down, reports said.

An eyewitness told RFA's Uyghur Service that the violence was triggered when a local community watch group ordered a woman to lift a veil covering her face while searching Uyghur houses in the Third Residential Committee area near the People's Square bazaar.

"When she refused, one of the watch group's member removed her veil, triggering the conflict," said the male employee of an electronics shop nearby, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"I saw people were running and police were shouting, and, through my shop window, I saw smoke billowing from the area where the incident occurred," a hairdresser working in the bazaar one kilometer (0.6 miles) away said.

A police officer in neighboring Mekit county told RFA he was informed that police were searching the houses for a suspect from Pichan (in Chinese, Shanshan) county in Xinjiang’s Turpan prefecture when the killings occurred.

A seven-year-old Uyghur boy was hacked to death by a Han Chinese suspect two weeks ago in Pichan county and the authorities had stepped up security to prevent retaliation by Uyghur groups.

Identities

There were also contradictions on the identities of the 21 killed in the Maralbeshi incident, the worst violence in Xinjiang in four years.

One local government official was quoted saying that six of the dead were Uyghur "terrorists" or "thugs." Xinhua said the other 15 killed were community officials—10 Uyghurs, three Han Chinese, and two Mongolians.

But Hou Hanmin, spokeswoman for the Xinjiang government, identified the dead as nine "residents," six police, and six Uyghurs. Eight other Uyghur suspects have been held.

"It's certainly a terrorist attack," Hou was quoted saying by Reuters news agency.

Chinese authorities often accuse Uyghurs of terrorist activities but experts familiar with the region have said Beijing exaggerates a terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest.

'Local protest'

Exile groups said Tuesday's clashes were sparked by the killing of a Muslim Uyghur youth by armed police, who fired on an angry protest by local people.

According to Sweden-based Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the World Uyghur Congress, local sources said that local residents had faced off with police over continual raids on Uyghur homes.

"Clashes broke out when the Uyghurs were protesting continual raids by the Chinese, and the Chinese armed police fired first, killing a young Uyghur man, which prompted [the violence]," Raxit said.

"The Chinese armed police rushed to the scene to suppress the [protest], and shot dead a Uyghur," he said.

Dilxat Raxit said the authorities were using allegations of terrorism as a way of covering up the armed crackdown on protesters.

"They are trying to make it [appear] legitimate," he said.

'Suspicious individuals'

According to the Chinese authorities, however, three community-level officials who discovered "suspicious individuals" and knives in the home of a local resident were attacked and killed after they called for back-up.

Xinjiang regional government spokeswoman Hou said that the community workers were carrying out "routine checks" on homes in the area, when they were told that "suspicious people" had been seen in a nearby house.

They called for help after finding knives on the premises, and were set upon by 14 Uyghur "rioters," whose actions appeared to be planned, she said.

Xinhua said that both police officers and officials were killed by the suspects, who then burned down the house.

Local businesses closed

The violence is believed to be the worst since ethnic clashes between Muslim Uyghurs and Han Chinese rocked Xinjiang's regional capital of Urumqi in 2009, killing nearly 200.

A Han Chinese shop owner near the scene of the incident said he had heard gunshots and immediately took cover inside his shop.

"They just smashed up the police station," he said. "They didn't do anything to us regular citizens."

The shop owner said the community officials "were killed as soon as they stepped outside."

Calls to the municipal police department in Kashgar, which administers Maralbeshi county, went unanswered during office hours on Wednesday.

Local businesses remained closed following the violence, residents said, with the town on high alert for "terrorist attacks."

An employee who answered the phone at a hotel in Siriqbuya said it had been ordered to close for several days by police.

Investigation urged

Meanwhile, the United States urged China to carry out a transparent probe of the violence and "take steps to reduce tensions and promote long-term stability in Xinjiang."

"We urge the Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation of this incident and to provide all Chinese citizens—including Uyghurs—the due-process protections to which they're entitled," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters.

In Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying hit out at "violent terrorist acts."

"The current situation in Xinjiang is good, but a small group of terrorist forces is still trying every possible means to disturb and destroy the present stability and trend of development in Xinjiang," Hua said.

Last week, a U.S. State Department annual report on global human rights practices said that China is waging an "increasingly harsh repression" against Tibetans and Uyghurs.

In Xinjiang, rights groups say that the Chinese authorities are indiscriminately jailing Uyghurs in the name of fighting terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism, and are intensifying the influx of Han Chinese in the region.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness.

Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur Service, Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service, and Hai Nan for the Cantonese Service. Translated by Dolkun Kamberi, Luisetta Mudie, and Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie and Parameswaran Ponnudurai.