25 December 2019•Update: 26 December 2019
KUWAIT CITY
Kuwaiti lawmakers have called on their government to intervene to stop persecution of Muslims in East Turkistan and India.
A group of 27 MPs signed a statement in which they underlined solidarity with Uighur Muslims against China's systematic campaign against their community.
China is accused of carrying out repressive policies against the Turkic Muslim group, and restraining its religious, commercial and cultural rights.
Up to 1 million people, or about 7% of the Muslim population in the Xinjiang region, have been incarcerated in an expanding network of "political re-education" camps, according to U.S. officials and UN experts.
Human Rights Watch accused Beijing of carrying out a "systematic campaign of human rights violations" against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, in a report last September.
Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti lawmakers voiced concern over recent restrictions against Muslims in India.
Protests have erupted in India against a new law granting citizenship to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians -- but not Muslims -- who migrated from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Activists have called the law discriminatory, fearing that it was aimed at disenfranchising Indian Muslims. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rejected such claims.
* Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara
