Beijing: China has imposed customary ban on civil servants, students and children from observing fast during Islamic holy month of Ramzan in Xinjiang province, a mainly-Muslim region,government websites said as the holy month began on Monday.
Besides the Communist Party of China (CPC) members have also been directed not to fast during the period. China's ruling Communist party is officially atheist and for years has banned government employees and minors from fasting in Xinjiang, home to the more than 10 million strong mostly Muslim Uighur minority. It has also ordered restaurants to stay open.
"Party members, cadres, civil servants, students and minors must not fast for Ramadan and must not take part in religious activities,” AFP reported, quoting a notice posted on the official website of Korla city in central Xinjiang.
“During the Ramadan month, food and drink businesses must not close,” it added.
“A website run by the education bureau of Shuimogou district in the regional capital Urumqi posted a notice on Monday last week calling for ‘prevention of students and teachers from all schools from entering mosques for religious activities’ during Ramadan,” the report added.
Beijing has implemented strict rules in Xinjiang forbidding anyone under the age of 18 from following a religion, levying hefty fines against families whose children study the Quran or fast during Ramadan.
Parents and guardians of Uyghur children and teens are frequently pressured by local officials into signing pledges promising not to allow them to take part in any religious activity.
Muslim members of the ruling Chinese Communist Party are forbidden to openly follow their religion, while state-run organizations are routinely ordered to encourage everyone to eat during daylight hours, sources in the region have told RFA.
Rights groups blame tensions on religious and cultural restrictions placed on Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in the vast area, which abuts Central Asia.
Several local government departments in Xinjiang posted notices on their websites in the last week ordering restrictions on fasting during Ramzan.
China has about 20 million Muslims and some 13 million, most of them Muslim Uyghurs, live in Xinjiang.
Ramzan is also observed in other autonomous regions, provinces and cities, including Gansu, Ningxia and Beijing. It is in Xinjiang, which has witnessed ethnic violence in recent years, that the curbs are mostly imposed.
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