Religious leader warns against hostile forces

BEIJING - A Chinese religious leader warned here on Saturday against penetration and secessionist activities by hostile forces both in and outside China in the name of religion in Xinjiang that was rocked by a deadly riot eight months ago.

Jume Tahir, vice-president of the Xinjiang Islamic Association and also a deputy to the National People's Congress, made the remarks while attending the on-going annual session of the the country's top legislature.

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"Xinjiang's development has thus been affected," said Jume Tahir, also Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, the largest of its kind in China, in the border city of Kashgar.

He said from the August 4 terrorist attack in Kashgar in 2008 to the July 5 riot in the Xinjiang's regional capital of Urumqi, these incidents did not happen accidentally but had been conspired.

The Urumqi riot left 197 people dead and more than 1,700 injured, and the Kashgar attack left 17 policemen dead and 15 others injured outside the gate of the local border police division.

"Some hostile forces in and outside China have made use of religion to carry out penetration, sabotage and secessionist activities in Xinjiang, and they also sowed discord between religious people and non-religious people. So we must keep vigilance," he said.

"Only with ethnic solidarity and social stability, can Xinjiang develops more rapidly and become more prosperous," he said.