Xinjiang, China: The authorities every year attempt to ban fasting among Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang.
The entire world witnessed the onset of Ramzan but China marked the festivity with its customary ban on fasting among civil servants, students and children in a majorly populated Muslim region of Xinjiang.
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.
The Communist Party has also ordered the restaurants to stay open. The area quite often witnesses clashes between Uighurs and state security forces.
“Food service workplaces will operate normal hours during Ramadan,” said a notice by the Food and Drug Administration in Xinjiang’s Jinghe county, last week.
Officials in the region’s Bole county were told: “During Ramadan do not engage in fasting, vigils or other religious activities,” according to a local government website report of a meeting this week.
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