EVENTS

Abstract

In the face of series of violent incidents and unrest in Xinjiang between 2013 and 2015, the present Chinese leadership appears to have realised that the dual strategy of overall regional development and coercion could neither ensure much coveted social order and regional stability nor accelerate the process of national blending between the Han and local ethnic minorities. Though the central and local authorities have been persistently adhering to the decades-old strike-hard measures against ‘three evils’, anti-terror struggles, social management,and stringent cultural and religious policies, a new social reality in the life of Uyghur and other minorities of the region is increasingly evident. Especially since August 2016, Xinjiang has seen anintensification of state coercion, surveillance and social control, and social engineering through re-education and indoctrination under the regional party secretary, Chen Quanguo. The panel discussion will deliberateon China's policy in Xinjiang and lessons for India in Kashmir,‘external involvement’ in the internal challenges in Xinjiang and state’s responses, assimilationist approach to the local unrest, new surveillance system and ‘de-radicalization’.

Panelists:

Prof. K. Warikoo is a former Professor at the Centre for Inner Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Author of several books on Kashmir, Central Asia and Afghanistan, he is the founding Editor of Himalayan and Central Asian Studies, which was first published in 1997. Prof. Warikoo is the author/ editor of 22 books. These include Xinjiang: China’s Northwestern Frontier; Eurasia and India: Regional Perspectives; Himalayan Frontiers of India; Religion and Security in South and Central Asia; Cultural Heritage of Jammu and Kashmir; Afghanistan: Challenges and Opportunities; Bamiyan: Challenge to World Heritage and Central Asia: Emerging New Order.

Dr. Mahesh Ranjan Debata is the Director, UGC Area Studies Programme, Centre for Inner Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. His main research interests include studies on China, Xinjiang and CentralAsia. Dr. Debata has authored China’s Minorities: Ethno-Religious Separatism in Xinjiang and edited Central Asia: Society, Security and Economy. He will discuss on Uyghur involvement in the jihadi activities and China’s responses.

Dr. Shagun Sharma is an Assistant Professor in Political Science in the Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Chandigarh. She holds a PhD in Chinese Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her area of Interest is ethnic movements and conflict and violence in China. She will speak on assimilationist statepolicies in Xinjiang such as strict monitoring of religious activities and ‘Re-education camps’ in the region in the recent years.

Dr. Debasish Chaudhuri is an independent research scholar and Adjunct Fellow of the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. He works on Chinese nationalism and ethnicity, political developments and political economy of Xinjiang, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRI, political reform and dissent movements in China. He has published a book titled Xinjiang and the Chinese State – Violence in the Reform Era.He will talk on surveillance system in Xinjiang, legal basis of ‘de-radicalization’ campaign and consequences.