MEMRI Email Newsletter

Special Dispatch | No. 1947 | June 3, 2008

Islamist Websites Monitor Project
“The Islamic Party of East Turkestan” [i.e. Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Chinese Turkestan] Posts Its Platform on an Islamist Forum

“The Islamic Party of East Turkestan” is a jihadist group operating in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (also known as Chinese Turkestan or Uyghuristan), a region in northwestern China inhabited mostly by Muslims.

On May 21, 2008, the Islamist forum Al-Ikhlas (hosted by Piradius.net in Malaysia) posted the party’s platform, as issued by its media department. The document sets out the party’s goals and beliefs.

The following are excerpts from the platform document:

“We are a group that promotes jihad for the sake of Allah… Its members, [united in] monotheism, devoutness, piety, and jihad for the sake of Allah, aim to liberate Muslim East Turkestan from the apostate Communist Chinese occupation… and impose shari’a [law] in [this region]. By cooperating with the Muslim mujahideen throughout the Islamic world [we aim to] restore the Islamic Caliphate and impose shari’a throughout the world.”

“Our Goals Are:

“To train the Muslim Turkestani youth to wage jihad…”

“To prepare the Muslim Turkestani masses [for jihad] and to bring them back to the right path [i.e. to the Salafi creed]…”

“To cooperate with all the groups waging jihad for the sake of Allah throughout the world, in order to repel the attacks of the apostates… and drive the Crusaders, Zionists and apostates from our Islamic world…”

“Principles:

“We believe that, like most Muslim countries, East Turkestan is under the direct and indirect occupation of apostates… and is governed by secular and democratic constitutions and laws…

“We believe that if Muslim countries are under direct or indirect occupation… waging jihad against those who rule them and subject them to apostate laws becomes a mandatory [duty].

“We believe that, since the apostate attacker has invaded our lands, jihad in the path of Allah has become a personal duty incumbent upon every Muslim in Turkestan…”

“We deem it necessary to impose shari’a in East Turkestan and in all [other] Muslim countries after they are liberated from the imperialists and apostates…

“We believe that any presence of the apostate Chinese occupiers – be it military, governmental, political or economic – is a legitimate target for jihad… This statement is a declaration of war upon them, and they must therefore leave East Turkestan immediately.”

“We consider the presence of Chinese immigrants in Muslim East Turkestan illegitimate. They represent the most tangible form of Chinese occupation… They must leave Turkestan and return to their places of origin. This statement is [our] first and last warning [to them]…

“We reject… all symbols of Jahili [i.e. non-Islamic] nationalism, as well as the deviant [ideology of] democracy in all its forms, and [declare] our opposition to them…

“We are an independent, organized Islamic group, under the command of an Emir and a leadership… in accordance with the Islamic principles of shura [consultation].”

077

SHAHEED HASAN MAHSUM RAHIMALLAH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pDeARKKupI&feature=related

“The language on the IPT seal graphic, the word on the video still, and the IPT site – including Romanization, font, and other linguistic clues – suggest that these were all produced by Xinjiang Uyghurs.”

Note the italics on “suggest” — not “demonstrate”, but “suggest”. (Note also that the article directly lifted our transliteration of Shärqiy Türkistan Islam Härikiti…) The video does not, itself, have anything to indicate that it was originally “Uyghur-made”. However, the presentation of the video, as well as some of the linguistic paraphernalia surrounding it, do indeed support the idea that a Xinjiang Uyghur was involved in its packaging. Perhaps, as I said in my post, someone wants to make this seem like a piece of native Uyghur media.

@Porfiriy/OpkeHessip: So what’s up with the video? Are we gonna see it? How about a little more detail on how you managed to locate the video?

Eric Schluessel, a Xinjiang scholar at Indiana University’s Department of Central Eurasian Studies, points out that the language on the IPT seal graphic and on the organisation’s website “suggest that these were all produced by Xinjiang Uyghurs.”

Are you suggesting that Schluessel was wrong on this point?