Days After Saving Masood Azhar, China Releases Data Showing It Arrested 13,000 Terrorists In Xinjiang Since 2014

Chinese authorities arrested nearly 13,000 terrorists in the far western region of Xinjiang since 2014, the communist government of China said in a policy paper on Monday (18 March) defending its Islamic de-radicalisation measures, reports Economic Times.

China is facing harsh criticism for establishing facilities that United Nations experts reportedly describe as detention centres holding more than one million Uighurs and other Muslims. However, Beijing maintains that it needs the measures to tackle the threat of Islamist militancy and terms them vocational training centres.

In a white paper, the Chinese government said that the legal authorities have adopted a policy that strikes the “right balance between compassion and severity”.

The white paper added that since 2014, Xinjiang has "destroyed 1,588 violent and terrorist gangs, arrested 12,995 terrorists, seized 2,052 explosive devices, punished 30,645 people for 4,858 illegal religious activities, and confiscated 345,229 copies of illegal religious materials,”

It added that strict punishment is served only to a small minority of people, such as ringleaders of terror groups while those influenced by extremist ideology receive education and training to teach them error of their ways.

The white paper comes in the wake of China opposing the designation of the Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.