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The East Turkistan Government in Exile (ETGE) has issued a strong condemnation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) over its official engagement with the People's Republic of China, accusing the bloc of legitimising what it describes as genocide and crimes against humanity against Muslims in Occupied East Turkistan.
In a statement released during an official visit by an OIC delegation to China, led by Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha, the ETGE expressed "profound alarm" at planned meetings with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials and stops in Occupied East Turkistan. The government-in-exile said the visit comes amid what it characterises as systematic repression, religious persecution, forced labour, and unlawful colonial occupation of the region's Muslim population. The ETGE accused the OIC--an organisation that presents itself as the collective voice of the Muslim world--of hypocrisy and betrayal, arguing that while the bloc has condemned oppression against Muslims in other parts of the world, it has remained silent or actively cooperative in the case of East Turkistan. According to the statement, Chinese authorities have destroyed, damaged, or altered more than 16,000 mosques, confiscated and destroyed Islamic texts, including Qur'ans, and banned core Islamic practices such as fasting and prayer. The ETGE further alleged that millions of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims have been arbitrarily detained, subjected to forced labour programs, and separated from their religious and cultural identity through mass indoctrination campaigns. The government-in-exile also cited coercive birth suppression policies, forced transfers of Muslim children, and labour schemes that UN human rights experts warned on January 22, 2026, may amount to crimes against humanity. Adil Ablimit, ETGE Minister for Education, Culture, and Religious Affairs, stated that no Muslim institution or state can credibly claim to defend Muslim dignity while legitimising those accused of persecuting and occupying Muslim populations. ETGE Prime Minister Abdulahat Nur described the situation in East Turkistan as one of the gravest moral tests facing the Muslim world, warning that history and divine judgment would hold accountable those who prioritise political expediency over justice. The ETGE called on the OIC and its member states to publicly condemn China's actions, end diplomatic engagements that legitimise the alleged abuses, support international investigations and sanctions, and back East Turkistan's right to self-determination and independence. The statement concluded with a warning that silence and complicity, in the face of oppression, would not go unanswered by history or by the oppressed themselves. (ANI)
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