Day: March 27, 2024

Vietnamese police on Tuesday arrested a Buddhist abbot and two followers – all members of the Khmer Krom ethnic minority – for their alleged roles in two separate incidents involving a pagoda in the country’s south.

The nearly 1.3-million strong Khmer Krom ethnic group live in a part of Vietnam that was once southeastern Cambodia. They face discrimination in Vietnam and suspicion in Cambodia, where they are often perceived not as Cambodians but as Vietnamese. 

The arrested abbot, Thach Chanh Da Ra, born in 1990, is head of the Dai Tho Pagoda in Tam Binh district in Vinh Long province. 

He and Kim Khiem, born in 1978, had posted allegedly slandering and insulting videos on social media and were charged with “abusing the rights to democratic freedom,” in violation of Article 331, a law that rights groups have said is vaguely written and often used to stifle dissent. 

Ra was dismissed from the government-recognized Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in December.

Police also arrested Thach Ve Sanal, another member of the pagoda, on charges of “illegally arresting, holding, or detaining people,” for his alleged role in an incident that occurred when a task force entered the pagoda to investigate on Nov. 22, 2023.

The arrests took place just a week after authorities sentenced two other Khmer Krom to prison for “abusing democratic freedoms,” and about a month after a third was given three-and-a-half years on the same charge.

False accusations

The government’s accusations about the three men arrested Tuesday are fabricated, Duong Khai, a monk at the pagoda, told RFA Vietnamese.

“They distorted and slandered us, not the other way around,” he said. “They constantly come to harass us and disrupt security and public order. They disturbed our indigenous Khmer Krom community and gave us no days of peace.”

Khai said that the Vietnamese authorities arrest whoever they dislike, especially if they dare to speak up and tell the truth about the government’s wrongdoings.

“They arrested Kim Khiem because he had spoken out about their repression (of Khmer Krom,)” he said. “As for the abbot, Thach Chanh Da Ra, the authorities have repeatedly harassed (him) since the tree-cutting incident.”

More than a year ago, the Buddhist followers elected Ra to replace the former abbot of the pagoda, Thach Xuoi, because they believed Xuoi had colluded with authorities to cut down a 700-year-old tree in the pagoda that had become a community symbol. 

Ra and Khiem were arrested when they were returning to the pagoda after conducting services elsewhere, the monk said.

International condemnation

The Vietnamese government is unfairly targeting Ra as a means to force the pagoda to join the officially recognized Sangha, the U.S.-based Kampuchea Krom Khmers Federation said in a press release Tuesday.

The organization called on authorities to drop all charges and release all three of the arrested people, and said the United Nations and the international community should condemn Vietnam – a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council – for its suppression of religious freedom.

RFA attempted to contact the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Embassy of Vietnam in Cambodia for comment but received no response.

The charges against Ra are “bogus” according to Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at New York-based Human Rights Watch.

“The Vietnamese government is deliberately harassing, discriminating against, and abusing the Khmer Krom leaders who stand up for their language, culture, and Theravadan Buddhism, and this crackdown is extending to senior Buddhist monks asserting their right to freedom of religion and belief,” Robertson said.

He said that Ra’s arrest showed that government officials have no respect for the religious beliefs of the Khmer Krom.

Robertson said that the U.S. Department of State should recognize the severity of Vietnam’s repression and designate it a country of particular concern for its violations of religious freedom.

Translated by Anna Vu and Samean Yun. Edited by Eugene Whong.

Updated on March 27 at 7:22 p.m. ET.

To lure more investment to Tibet, Chinese authorities have announced a sweetener to would-be investors: Move your family to the region, spend three years there and invest 3 million yuan (US$415,000) – and your teenage children will have a better chance of gaining entry to a good university.

Every June, millions of Chinese high school students take the grueling “gaokao” college entrance exams, but the admissions scores to the country’s 1,200 universities vary among the provinces according to the number of their inhabitants.

Residents of Beijing and Shanghai face the stiffest competition. But Tibet offers its students one of the lowest college entry barriers via preferential conditions meant to give ethnic Tibetans an advantage.

For example, a student in Tibet who scored at least 300 points out of 750 on the exam would have qualified to get into most universities, but those taking the exam in Beijing would have needed a score of 448 to enter the same schools, said Frank Lehberger, a senior research fellow at the Usanas Foundation, an Indian think tank.

Chinese parents have picked up on this discrepancy and some have become “gaokao” migrants, moving part or all the family to more advantageous locations just so their children would have an easier time getting into university.

“This rationale entices many Chinese families to migrate to places with low population and high preferential ‘affirmative action programs,’” Lehberger said.

The Ministry of Education has ordered local governments to crack down on gaming the system in this way, but this offer from Tibet contradicts that and appears to have the authorities’ blessing.

Desperate for investment

The decision, announced March 18 by the Tibet Autonomous Region Education Department, comes amid a slumping economy, with a rising jobless rate for young people, and cash-strapped provincial governments are keen to attract investment after three years of draconian pandemic restrictions.

According to the specialist taxation website shui5.com, the terms are only being offered to the children of owners or shareholders of a company entering the Tibet Autonomous Region under the local government’s investment promotion program.

The offer will be extended to those who have made an initial investment of at least 3 million yuan, and they can’t withdraw capital or shares from the business for at least 5 years, according to the announcement.

The students must also have been enrolled in a school in Tibet for at least three years – so this is a significant time commitment.

The aim of the offer is to “further optimize the business environment in our region … and the high-quality development of the plateau economy,” said the announcement on shui5.com.

Stirring controversy

The move has sparked debate on Chinese social media, with some posters arguing it would be unfair to students from the mountainous region and others supporting it.

The weightings are calculated based on past regional performance, which means that if students from better-resourced regions of China start going to Tibet, they could push up the score threshold for everyone, including Tibetans.

Tibetans and rights groups warn that the program will deprive Tibetan students of educational and job opportunities and worsen unemployment among them. 

“This recent development will further rob Tibetan students of opportunities,” a source in Tibet’s capital of Lhasa told Radio Free Asia.

The Chinese government has adopted educational policies to help Tibetans, but they have benefitted Chinese officials and investors who move there, he said. 

Because the Chinese government perceives Tibetans as less developed and economically disadvantaged, it provides special conditions for Tibetan students to pursue higher education, said Bhuchung Tsering, head of the research and monitoring unit at the International Campaign for Tibet in Washington.

“However, with the current situation where anyone with the financial means can secure a spot, I believe this policy is being exploited and misused,” Tsering said.

Strict requirements

But Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, was quoted in the China Daily as saying that while people may worry that the policy will favor rich people and lead to education inequality, the strict requirements of the policy mean only those who are really committed to long-term investment in the region can enjoy it.

The key is to crack down on any people or organization faking documents and close any loopholes, he said.

An official at the Chinese Embassy in Washington said they weren’t familiar with the program in question. But the spokesperson said that Tibet’s economy is “booming, the society is harmonious and stable, its cultural traditions have been protected and promoted, and a modern education system adapted to local needs have been built.”

The official went on to say that all ethnic groups in Tibet have the right to “equally enjoy high-quality education,” which has helped improve the cultural standards of the people and enhanced ethnic and national unity.

Despite what the official said, the move does seem to suggest that regional Chinese governments face financial woes, experts said. 

“This ‘investment scheme’ smacks of desperation, betraying the deep financial troubles that the TAR government and bureaucracy finds itself in,” said Lehberger, who has worked for many years in Tibet. 

He said he strongly doubts the measure will attract many affluent Han Chinese because 90% of that group wants to leave China altogether. 

The move also highlights the lack of tangible development in the region, said Sriparna Pathak, associate professor of China studies at the O.P. Jindal Global University in Haryana, India, and a former consultant at India’s foreign ministry.

“Despite the severe lack of development in Tibet and the wiping out of the Tibetan language, identity and culture by the Chinese Communist Party state, the attempt still is to show Tibet as a shining example of development as is seen in all Chinese propaganda on Tibet,” she said.

“However, the latest move to lure investors clearly shows how badly so-called development efforts of the Chinese Communist Party state have failed,” she said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

Updates with comment from Chinese Embassy spokesperson.

At least 17 local officials carrying out the junta’s conscription efforts have been killed since a draft law was enacted early last month, according to rebel officials and residents.

The number of killings has more than tripled in the last week, ahead of the official start of conscription, which the junta has said will take place in April. On March 23, RFA reported a total of six such killings.

The junta enacted the “People’s Military Service Law” on Feb. 10 to replenish its military ranks after months of mounting losses and surrenders to insurgents in Myanmar’s three-year civil war.

In the weeks since the announcement, youths in many cities have fled abroad or to rebel-controlled territories to avoid the draft, refusing to fight for the military that seized control of the country in a February 2021 coup d’etat.

RFA has received reports of forced recruitment and officials compiling lists of residents of fighting age, as well as draft lotteries to select who will serve.

But rebel forces are fighting back against those doing the junta’s bidding, according to sources who spoke to RFA Burmese on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

As of Tuesday, at least 17 village- and township-level general administration officials and other related personnel, including clerks and heads of 100 households, have been assassinated in Bago, Magway, Sagaing and Mandalay regions, as well as Rakhine, Mon and Kachin states, sources told RFA Burmese.

When asked about the killings, an administrative officer in Yangon region’s South Dagon township said there had been no resistance to recruitment in his ward, which had been implemented through a lottery last week.

He suggested that only “corrupt officials” had been targeted after accepting bribes to keep some draft-eligible youth out of the selection process, while “those who worked transparently have remained unharmed.”

List of victims grows

The earliest instance of an official being killed for their role in military recruitment took place on Feb. 20, when an administrator for Shin Thabyay Pin village in Magway’s Taungdwingyi township named Nan Win was found dead. 

Members of the local anti-junta People’s Defense Force, or PDF, claimed responsibiliity, saying he was killed after pressuring residents to join military training.

On March 18, members of the Salin Township PDF shot and killed Myint Htoo, the administrator of Pu Khat Taing village in Magway’s Salin township, as he called on residents to enlist for military service with a loudspeaker, according to sources in the township.

The following day, unidentified attackers killed Maung Pu, the administrator of Mandalay region’s Wundwin township, while he worked to recruit soldiers for the junta, township residents said. Details of the attack were not immediately available.

On March 20, Tin Win Khaing, the administrative officer of Oke Shit Kone village in Magway’s Yenangyaung township, and his clerk San Naing, were also killed.

On March 22 and 24, Mya Mye Nyein, a junior clerk at the General Administration Office in Sagaing’s Shwebo township, and Nan Nwe Oo, the administrator of Shwebo’s Ward No. 4, were shot dead.

Both had distributed leaflets calling on people to join the military and were deeply involved in the recruitment process, said a resident of Shwebo, who identified himself as Oat Aaw and claimed that a guerrilla group known as Shwebo Ar Mann had carried out the assassinations.

Rebels issue warnings

San Lwin, the administrator of Taung Ka Lay village in Mon’s Kyaikhto township, was also shot dead on his way to work on March 24. He had handed over a list of local draft-eligible residents to township officials, a leader of the anti-junta Kyaikhto Revolution Force told RFA.

“We have issued a notice to local administrative officials instructing them not to cause harm to the people, and not to force youths into the military, in accordance with the junta’s order,” the rebel leader said. “If they don’t follow our instructions, we will take action against them.”

 

The PDF issued a similar warning in the third week of March, stating that ward members from various regions and states would be “punished appropriately” if they forcibly pressured people to serve in the military.

Political commentator Than Soe Naing said he expects the killings will continue unless the junta halts its implementation of the military service law.

“The public’s anger was clearly sparked by the junta’s decision to enact the law,” he said.

The public backlash has also prompted some administrators to resign, saying they won’t be able to comply with the junta’s order.

Last week, 21 administrators in Rakhine’s Thandwe township collectively resigned, accounting for more than one-third of the heads of Thandwe’s 62 village-tracts. Similar resignations have taken place in Yangon region’s Thanlyin and Sanchaung townships, and Bago region’s Nat Than Kwin village.

Blazes in Ayeyarwady

Buildings being used in the junta’s recruitment drive have also burned under mysterious circumstances in Ayeyarwady region’s Hinthada and Yegyi townships in recent days, according to residents.

On Sunday, the rear of an administrative office in Hinthada’s Ka Naung Su ward caught fire at approximately 8 pm, while a draft lottery was underway, a resident of the ward told RFA.

While some residents attributed the fire to faulty electrical wiring, others suggested it had been set by someone opposing the recruitment drive.

On March 19, the residence of Administrator Kyaw Moe in Hinthada’s Oke Hpo Chaung village, was set on fire while he was recruiting for the military in the front yard, according to a resident of the village.

Damage was minimal, as those present acted quickly to put out the blaze, he added.

The same day, the house of a Yegyi ward administrator was also destroyed by fire, although details remained unclear.

Residents characterized the fires as “arson” and said the incidents were motivated by anger over the implementation of the conscription law.

Attempts by RFA to contact Khin Maung Kyi, the junta’s social affairs minister and spokesperson for Ayeyarwady region, went unanswered Wednesday.

Mandalay recruitment drive

Meanwhile, residents say there has been a push for recruitment in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region, with administrative authorities actively compiling military service rosters and threatening punishment for those who resist.

Recruitment activities were most prevalent in Mandalay’s Chan Mya Thazi and Maha Aung Mye townships, they said, and census-taking is underway throughout the region.

Residents also reported that authorities manning checkpoints along roads connecting Mandalay to Sagaing region have intensified their scrutiny of passing vehicles, looking for anyone trying to escape the draft.

A resident of Mandalay said the junta is issuing threats of arrest and punishment for entire families of youths evading service.

“There are ominous warnings of apprehending family members of those aged between 18 and 35 on [recruitment] lists, should they refuse military service,” she said.

A resident of Patheingyi township said local administrators have openly told people to pay them money in order to avoid service.

“It is said that if we don’t want to go, we can give them money to arrange for a replacement,” she said.

Thein Htay, the junta’s minister of economy and spokesperson for Mandalay region, did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

The military has said that it will enlist draft-eligible citizens in batches of 5,000 monthly, beginning in April.

According to data released last week by independent research group Data for Myanmar, the junta had commenced implementation of the military service law in 172 townships nationwide as of March 22.

Translated by Aung Naing and Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

China’s apparent unhappiness with Myanmar’s military junta has created an opportunity for an international consensus on how to address the country’s post-coup political crisis, a Brussels-based think tank said in a report on Wednesday.

The report from the International Crisis Group, or ICG, pointed to China’s tacit support for the “Operation 1027” offensive against military strongholds in northern Myanmar that began last October and “dealt the junta a resounding defeat in a strategic enclave on the Chinese border.”

The ICG also noted Beijing’s annoyance with the junta’s failure to act against the numerous scam centers along the border that have targeted Chinese nationals in recent years.

“Beijing’s displeasure has not, however, translated into disengagement,” the group said in “Scam Centres and Ceasefires: China-Myanmar Ties Since the Coup.” 

“There is room for different actors to work together on improving outcomes in Myanmar,” it said. “For its part, China should resist overly transactional or short-term approaches in favor of promoting long-term stability.”

Beijing can do this because it is “the preeminent diplomatic force” in Myanmar, having more influence with “many of the country’s key protagonists than any other foreign power,” the report said.

Possible ‘coordinated response’

Chinese President Xi Jinping had built warm relations with the government of Aung San Kyi Suu and was preparing several major infrastructure projects across Myanmar, including a deep sea port. He signed several memorandums of understanding during a January 2020 visit to the country.

But the Feb. 1, 2021, military coup d’etat “was an unwelcome complication” for relations between the two countries, bringing insecurity and uncertainty to Myanmar and “making big investments unviable,” the report said.

It has also left Myanmar in turmoil as fighting among military troops, anti-junta forces and ethnic armies has occurred in much of northern and western Myanmar, leaving villages destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people displaced.

Since the coup, Beijing has declined to normalize relations with the regime and hasn’t invited junta leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to China “despite much lobbying.”

But Beijing has still sought to maintain relations with all of the main interested parties “to preserve its leverage and stop geopolitical rivals from capitalizing on turmoil,” the report noted.

That’s left room for China and other countries – including members of the U.N. Security Council – to agree on an approach to the crisis, the report said. 

Dialogue with Council members could preserve “the possibility of a coordinated response” if the situation in Myanmar keeps deteriorating, the report said.

Shells land in Chinese territory

The civil war, now in its third year, has spilled over the border on occasion. 

In early January, stray artillery fell in China’s Yunnan province during fighting in neighboring northern Shan state. The blast left five Chinese people injured, prompting a strong rebuke from Beijing.

On Wednesday, fighting on the border between junta troops and the Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, led to two artillery explosions in Chinese territory, a resident told RFA.

The KIA conducted attacks on military junta outposts in Kachin state on Tuesday night. Junta troops fired back early Wednesday but the shells landed on the Chinese side of the border, the resident said.

Chinese authorities responded by closing the nearby Mai Ja Yang border gate. RFA sent an email to the Chinese Embassy in Yangon to ask about the explosions, but they didn’t immediately respond.

Loss of trust

For its part, the IGC report said China should “move beyond establishing fragile truces on its border with Myanmar in favor of a broader approach” by pushing to end organized criminal activity along the border – “not merely those that have the greatest impact on Chinese citizens.”

“While such an approach would require a bigger investment on Beijing’s part, it also promises a greater return – a more durable peace – for China, Myanmar and the wider region,” the report said.

Junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun didn’t respond to RFA’s efforts to obtain comment, but a former army officer said the military has been unhappy with how Beijing has conducted its relations with the junta.

“We have also lost trust with them,” he told RFA. “We lost our confidence in China due to its self-interest.”

The Chinese government’s interest in resolving the crisis is driven by its investment projects in Myanmar, said Kyaw Zaw, the spokesman of the shadow National Unity Government, or NUG.

“I will say that China is dealing with all the relevant stakeholders of Myanmar issues in various ways,” he said. “They mainly focus on border security, protection of the interests of China and the Chinese people, and implementation of investment-related businesses that were signed with the previous government.”

Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has pulled a planned initial public offering in Hong Kong of its logistics subsidiary Cainiao, sparking fears that the city is losing its shine as a financial center amid a crackdown on dissent.

Chairman Joseph Tsai told an extraordinary meeting of shareholders on Tuesday that the company had halted plans for the Cainiao IPO because “the market in Asia is sluggish and lacks liquidity, so there is no point in pushing forward.”

The announcement came as a second national security law, called “Article 23,” took effect in Hong Kong, which critics say will create a minefield for businesses operating in the city, due to its broad and vague definitions of what constitutes a “state secret,” or “collusion with foreign forces.”

While Alibaba didn’t cite the Article 23 legislation as a factor in the decision, the move feeds into concerns that an ongoing crackdown on public dissent is having a negative impact on Hong Kong’s image as a global financial center.

Announcing the decision in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Alibaba said it would acquire the remainder of the company’s shares from minority shareholders.

The company plans to “align part of Cainiao’s business to better realize synergies” with other companies in the group and to support a “long-term strategic expansion of its global logistics network,” according to the statement.

Alibaba’s offline retail chain Freshippo also delayed its Hong Kong IPO in September 2023, citing weak sentiment for consumer stocks, to await a more favorable market, according to media reports.

Murky outlook

Speaking on RFA’s Financial Freedom talk show, current affairs commentator Joseph Ngan said Hong Kong’s rating as an IPO location has deteriorated in recent years, particularly after Chinese regulators forced Alibaba founder Jack Ma to withdraw planned Shanghai and Hong Kong IPOs for fin-tech subsidiary Ant Group in 2020.

“Alibaba’s fortunes haven’t been very good in recent years … and the mainland Chinese economy is growing slowly while Alibaba is clearly facing huge competition,” he said.

Financial commentator Simon Lee agreed, adding that a weak yuan had compounded the issue.

“The bigger reason is the exchange rate issue,” Lee told the show. “Is now the right time and the right environment for a mainland Chinese company to raise funds in Hong Kong? Will the stock even rise afterwards — if not, then why offer the shares?”

“Whether Hong Kong can revitalize its stock market remains to be seen — it’s no longer easy to do,” Lee said.

Slumping market

Former investment banking lawyer-turned-rights activist Samuel Bickett said Alibaba hadn’t hidden its reason for the cancellation of its IPO, which was the recent downturn in the Hong Kong stock market.

The benchmark Hang Seng index has tumbled 43% over the past five years, and is currently trading at similar levels to 1997, shortly after the city’s handover to China.

Even government attempts to rescue the market were unlikely to make the city an attractive location for future listings, he said.

“It seems clear that while there are elements in the Hong Kong government that very much want to attract more investment and remain relatively open, those elements of the government have very much lost out to the national security elements of the government,” Bickett told RFA in an interview on Monday.

“But as long as that situation persists, we’re not going to see a turn towards more openness and more security for banks, for their employees, for companies trying to IPO, for any sort of prospects for investment,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ngan told a separate RFA talk show that ratings agencies like Moody’s would have good reason to downgrade Hong Kong’s credit rating further in the wake of the Article 23 legislation, which took effect on Saturday, because it will likely increase the cost of corporate borrowing.

But there are also greater risks and costs around corporate compliance due to the new legislation, despite reassurances from Hong Kong officials that it will be business as usual, he said.

“In future, any decision on business operations, including selecting business partners, finding new funding and shareholders, or even something as simple as hiring a junior employee, must involve conducting a background check on the identity of the other party, including any national security risk from the other party,” Ngan said.

“These are the new compliance costs for doing business [in Hong Kong].”

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

About 100 Uyghur refugees in Pakistan face deportation in April, after the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan is over, based on a new government directive, a copy of which was obtained by Radio Free Asia.

The 18 refugee families, who have been living in Pakistan for several years, fear they will be deported to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan or China, where they may face persecution.

The Uyghurs are a tiny part of a much larger group of 1.7 million Afghan refugees in the country that the Pakistani government announced last October it would deport following a series of suicide bombings blamed on Afghan groups.

The Pakistani government decided in November 2023 to extend the stay of the Uyghurs for six months after the U.N. refugee agency intervened on their behalf.

In February, the Interior Ministry held a meeting to review the repatriation plan, which outlines three phases, starting with undocumented Afghan nationals, followed by Afghan Citizen Card holders and proof of registration holders.

The Uyghur families are registered as Afghan refugees and hold Afghan Citizen Cards, but otherwise have no passports or legal identity.

The new Pakistani directive calls for gathering information on Afghan migrants before a renewed effort to deport them after Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan on April 9.

“Since they perceive us as Afghans, they intend to include us in this expulsion,” said Turghunjan Muhemmet Tursun, a 32-year-old Uyghur born in Afghanistan whose parents sought refuge in Pakistan after the Soviet-Afghan War erupted in 1979. 

“This has left us deeply distressed.”

Legal limbo

Most of the Uyghurs are descendants of individuals who migrated decades ago from Xinjiang to Afghanistan, and later fled to Pakistan because of war and other problems they encountered in Afghanistan.

Despite their long-term residence in Pakistan, the government has not granted the Uyghurs citizenship, passports or residency status. Because of this, they face restrictions in access to jobs, education for their children, and free movement inside the country. 

An official from the U.N. refugee agency’s office, or UNHCR, which is monitoring the situation, expressed hope that the new directive would not adversely affect the Uyghur families. 

“We are aware of this, but the government has not formally moved on it,” the official said in a text message, asking not to be identified.

The UNHRC official stressed a low likelihood of deportation of the Uyghurs, but neither his office nor Pakistani authorities could offer clear and reliable information regarding their fate. 

RFA could not reach the Office of Afghan Refugees at Pakistan’s Interior Ministry for comment.

Omer Khan, founder of the Pakistan-based Omer Uyghur Trust, which has been assisting the families, told RFA that Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued orders to the country’s border management and law enforcement authorities on March 23 to conduct an urgent operation to deport those holding a Afghan Citizen Cards at the end of Ramadan.

“This has caused worry among the Uyghur community,” Khan said. “Previously, the UNHCR in Pakistan told us not to worry, but now they’re not picking up the phone when we try to contact them.”

Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.