One shot dead in East Turkestan as violence racks region

[mota bhai 2,675]

Chinese police on Thursday shot dead an assailant who attacked a police vehicle with knives in China's far western region of East Turkestan (Xinjiang), the latest in a string of violent attacks that have raised concerns of greater instability in the troubled region.

East Turkestan, resource-rich and strategically located on the borders of central Asia and home to the Muslim Uighur people, has been beset by violence for years.

The attack in Aksu city came as police were checking a "suspicious car", the East Turkestan government said on its official news website. The suspect attacked them with knives and "hurled burning devices at police patrol cars", state news agency Xinhuasaid.

The incident followed a bomb and knife attack last Wednesday at a train station in Urumqi, the regional capital of East Turkestan, that killed one bystander and wounded 79.

Aksu is an agricultural hub between the country's western border with Kyrgyzstan and the Taklamakan Desert on the east. Aksu was the home of one of the two bombers killed in the Urumqi blast, according to police.

In February, Xinhua said 11 fighters were killed in Aksu prefecture. They had "attacked a team of police" who were patrolling, it said.

Exiles and many rights groups say the real cause of the unrest in East Turkestan is China's heavy-handed policies, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of the Uighur people.

Dilxat Raxit, the spokesman for the German-based World Uyghur Congress exile group, said that the incident stemmed from police insulting Uighurs during the vehicle inspection.

...

More than 100 people, including several policemen, have been killed in East Turkestan since last April, according to state media reports.

http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/135821/one-shot-dead-in-e-turkestan-after-attack-on-police

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I'm not sure I believe East Turkestan is a real place

[mota bhai 2,675]

I'm not sure I believe East Turkestan is a real place

You prefer the name imposed on it by the Chinese Communist Party imperialists (Xinjiang)?

Edited May 8, 2014 by mota bhai

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You prefer the name imposed on it by the Chinese Communist Party imperialists (Xinjiang)?

no.

So is it like Turkmenistan? That's a place, right? Are turks and turkmen different?

When the USS China dissolves, will Turkestan be its own place?

Central Asia is confusing.

Edited May 8, 2014 by Harpa Timsah

[mota bhai 2,675]

Central Asia is confusing.

Extremely.

One thing I just learned, which somewhat boggled my mind, is how incredibly close (by American standards) Delhi is from Samarkand (Uzbekistan). It's roughly the distance between NYC and Miami. Samarkand is a name I remember reading about a lot in Indian history texts. People from that region rode their horses into India and took the country over some centuries ago.

I was also surprised to learn that East Turkestan (that's Xinjiang, to you Chinese Communist Party sympathizers) actually borders Pakistani Kashmir. How could they not have a terror problem, with that geographical location?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Why does everyone want Kashmir? Is it nice there?

[mota bhai 2,675]

Why does everyone want Kashmir? Is it nice there?

Pakistan wants it because they believe it was supposed to be theirs. British India was partitioned into a Hindu part and a Muslim part. When the Indians forced their way into majority Hindu 'princely states' (which existed as vassals of the British) ruled by Muslim sultans, the Pakistanis formally protested but let it go because it made sense given the 'logic' of partition. But when the Indians declared that the Muslim ruler of Kashmir, a Muslim-majority 'princely state' had signed a document agreeing to join India, the Pakistanis weren't having it. They invaded. They got as far as they got (approximately the current the line of control) until India stopped them.

The line has shifted a tad between then and now during the wars, but for the most part that line has been where it is since the 1940s. Both countries gained and lost a few villages in 71, India took a glacier in the 80s. But that's it.

India should have let the Pakistanis have the Muslim parts of Kashmir. They still should, IMO. Yeah, it makes the plains of northern India more or less indefensible but them's the breaks.

Edited May 8, 2014 by mota bhai

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I watched the movie Partition. Do I get a cookie?

[mota bhai 2,675]

God, that movie was so dumb.

[GandD 5,966]

I know how to partition hard drives. Can I also have a cookie?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

[mota bhai 2,675]

I know how to partition hard drives. Can I also have a cookie?

You, sir, get a paycheck.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Some people are paid for watching movies.

[mota bhai 2,675]

Is the money any good?

[luckytxn 2,264]

Kashmir was a great rocking song by Led Zeppelin.