A deafening silence.

Byline: Irfan Husain

IMAGINE a scenario in which a Western country locks up hundreds of thousands of Muslims in internment camps. Here, they are 're-educated' to adopt liberal values that include a change of language and lifestyle.

Had such a deliberate effort to brainwash an entire Muslim community been attempted, there would be riots and protests across the Islamic world. Embassies of the country responsible for this outrage would be attacked, and its businesses boycotted. We know from experience that this sequence of events is pretty much standard operating procedure whenever real or perceived acts of state-organised violence against Muslims take place.

Also read: In China's Xinjiang, Big Brother moves into Uighur homes as 'family'

So why the deafening silence across the Islamic world when around 1.5 million Muslims in China's Xinjiang province have been forced into vast 're-education centres'? Even before this policy was launched, Uighur culture was under attack, with beards and headscarves strongly discouraged by an increasingly harsh Chinese administration. It is now virtually impossible to find books in the Uighur language in bookshops.

Around half the province's population of 24m is Sunni, and largely follows the Sufi tradition. Apart from Uighurs, there are Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Hui and other minorities in Xinjiang. Ever since the government in Beijing began its policy of moving Han Chinese to the province to dilute the Muslim presence, Uighur separatist groups have resisted and staged sporadic attacks. As often happens, the state has countered with tough action and policies.

The ummah's response to the Uighurs' plight is puzzling.

The aim of the Chinese government is to 'transform through education'. For thousands of years, the Chinese ruling class has sought to build a stable society free of tension between various ethnic groups. So when a handful of Uighur resisted the attempt to integrate them into mainstream Han culture, they were accused of separatism and subversion. One such group is the Uighur mother-tongue movement: the authorities have dubbed it the 'fourth evil' after separatism, religious extremism and terrorism.

One example of China's historic policy of standardising rules across the country is that despite spanning five time zones, it only has a single standard Beijing time. This leads to anomalies such as Kashgar in the west having to follow the same time as the capital. So the sun can be shining while the clock shows 9...