RayC wrote:China has meddled enough with Indian sovereignty and it is time to pay China back in the same coin.
These facts and the fact that the Friday prayers were banned (even though the chergy is handpicked for their loyalty to the Han Chinese regime and the fact that the sermon is vetted by the District Communist Han apparatchik) does indicate that it is not local but is turning out to be an uprising.
There is a question of principles and then there is the question of practice.
Others like China advocate the principle of non-interference, but in practice they do not hesitate to do the opposite. That is real politik.
India advocates the principle of non-interference, but also feels then duty-bound to practice this principle, foremost so as not to give anybody the excuse to do something similar in India. That however does not stop the others from doing so. They only do it on the quiet. I don't know whether it is such a huge achievement in forcing others to do harm to you on the quiet.
So if we remove the dichotomy of principles and quiet practice of the opposite, than here is a suggestion.
How about getting the Indian Muslims to take up a position on the Xinjiang disturbances? How about getting the Indian Mullahs, Shahi Imam and Deoband to lodge a protest, or to carry out a few demonstrations against Chinese oppression of Muslims?
Others will shout that this is a double-edged sword, and may come to haunt us later, possibly in a way it is happening in Pakistan. Well one difference would be, that this is not about arming Indian Muslims to wage Jihad or anything of the like. Tauba, Tauba!
What this does is:
1. It generates a sense of being part of India. It shows to the IMs that Indian Interests and Muslims Interests can be congruent to each other. This would be an appropriate answer to the time of the nuclear deal in March 2007 when Bush came a calling, and Muslims demonstrated against him, whereas the body polity of India was very much in favor of Bush. That incidence gave the IMs a feeling that India's and Indian Muslim's interest diverge. A protest against Uyghur oppression can bring back on the rails.
2. Secondly, something that has been depressingly missing on the world stage and in the Ummah is the voice of Indian Muslims, especially when it is in favor of India. India's official foreign policy, correctly if I may add, is conducted from PMO, MEA, but which often has the disadvantage that the Indian Muslims cannot be the voice of India in places like the OIC. What we need is some coordination between India's official Foreign Policy and Indian Muslim Organizations on issues where Indian Muslim Organizations may take the front. I think this is one such issue. India can benefit from it, and at the same time officially keep a healthy distance from it as well (considering we are democratic, free and multi-religious).
3. Indian Muslims can benefit from it, because every other Ummah member is somehow appeasing China and keeping quite. The only murmurs of protest have been heard in Ankara, by the Chinese Muslims in Malaysia, and that is all. So if Indian Muslims start a protest on this issue, their voice would be the loudest in a very quiet environment, and as such would enhance their credentials to speak on issues concerning Muslim populations, which can come in handy in countering Pakistani propaganda on Kashmir in the OIC. This would also take away the carpet from below Pakistan as the voice of Muslims in the Indian Subcontinent.
4. India can use this opportunity to get cozy with a couple of Ummah countries, especially Turkey. Turkey in fact does see itself as the voice of Türkic people all over Central Asia. Turkey has been a great friend of Pakistan all these years, but this would be the time to break that relationship. The Pakistanis have been handing over Uyghur rebels to PRC, while India feels sympathy for the plight of the Türkic people. In the Great Game in Central Asia, Turkey can be a very good partner for India, just as Iran is. A loud protest from the Indian Muslims and a deathly silence from Pakistan would not go unnoticed amongst the Turkish people.
5. This would also be good for relations with the Central Asian Republics. Whereas PRC clamps down on Türkic people, India shows sympathy. The Kazakhs, the Kirghiz, the Uzbeks, the Turkmen, and even Azerbaijanis who are all Türkic would appreciate Indian sentiments, and may like to have enhanced strategic and economic ties with India to countenance PRC in Central Asia. Official Indian Foreign Policy need not do much in this regard. They can ride piggy-back on Indian Muslim protests.
6. Indian Muslim protests would also give China second thoughts about its meddling in South Asia and taking for granted that Indian Muslims and Bharat are in conflict.
7. In a tussle in Asia for supremacy with three poles: the Han Chinese, the Indics and Islam, it is important that the Han Chinese and Islam are not aligned, because that will take down India. This is an opportunity to recalibrate that dynamic a bit.
8. This is a low-cost high profit venture. We know we are not about to get Xinjiang freed from PRC, but why not use the opportunity to strengthen our standing in the region.
9. One could even consider this to be an opportunity to allow Indian Muslims to vent their negative energy outwards and not inwards inside India.
Like Prakash Karat brought out the Indian Muslims out on the streets when George W. Bush visited India, would he be willing to do this one more time, this time to protest PRC oppression of Uyghurs in East Turkestan. Come on, Prakash! Don't you want the limelight?