Around 80 Chinese religious and academic leaders held a conference on Islamic doctrine in which they urged Muslims here to reject religious extremism and oppose terrorism, it was reported here today.
Reports circulating in this capital about the meeting held in Urunqi city, capital of the autonomous region of Xinjiang Uygur, said that the leaders of that religious faith had approved the national call to their followers, in which they also urged to improved moral attitudes.
According to report from Urumqi, the China daily news, Abulitif Abdureyim, director of the Xinjiang Islamic Association, said that those who carried out terrorist activities in China recently will be barred from heaven because they violated the teachings of the Koran.
Recently, China has been the scene of violent attacks against police, government business, and civilian facilities, mostly in the northwestern autonomous region of the country.
Since the regional government stepped up security measures late in March, the police have arrested more than 200 suspects and seized videos and audiotapes of violence and extremism, among which were included bomb-making instructions.
A white paper on China’s government security confirmed that religious extremism was the main reason for the 10 terrorist attacks in 2013.
On April 30, a bomb exploded at the Urumqi railway station with three dead and 79 wounded, an action blamed on the so-called Islamic Party of Turkestan.
The events in Urumqi were followed on May 6 by another terrorist action, at the train station in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, where six people were stabbed with knives.(PL)