dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

East Turkistan - Restriction on Economic Life - Poverty and Its Societal Impact / Abdulsalam Abdulgani Alim· Economic development for the cities, but not for rural areas· Local people losing their homes and their lands· Destruction of the environment· Pollution that has been caused by poorly-planned projects· Destruction of the ethnic culture and traditional businessesFrom the above factors one can easily see that development in East Turkistanhas not brought about any positive economic changes for the Uyghur people,rather it has merely increased inequality and injustice for the owners of the land.Various forms of economic pressure inflicted on the UyhgursOfficially and non-officially the Uyghur nation has been victimized in allspheres of their lives. Basic human rights do not exist in their true sense. Thecorruption of authorities has worsened, leading to more injustices in East Turkistan;this in turn causes much distress and a large number of economic problems. Briberyis very common among local authorities. Any type of government-related matterthat requires payment is sometimes carried out in the form of bribes, or fines ifthe authorities are displeased. Here I would like to mention some examples ofhow people’s money has been usurped in East Turkistan by the local authorities:· Failure to cooperate with the family-planning program (2 child policyfor minorities) results not only in the loss of jobs, but also in heavy fines.Those who have over the legal quota of children face fines of 8,000-10,000 Yuan (compared with the rural family’s annual income of 5,000Yuan in a good year). Failing to pay the fine leads to confiscation of landand other property.· Applying for passport has many restrictions for Uyghurs and is used bylocal authorities as a good opportunity to make money; the applicant hasto pay many bribes.· Travelling overseas requires depositing a bond that ranges between 30,000and 50,000 Yuan as a surety that they will not travel to Saudi Arabia forpurposes of Umrah or Hajj (Muslims are only allowed to go on Hajj witha group organized by the government, which is very costly). If the persontravels to Saudi Arabia, their money is confiscated.· Teaching or learning religion is considered unlawful. If caught, both the431