In a rare move, Pakistan has urged China to ease restrictions on Uighur Muslims amid reports of up to a million of the minority community members being detained in the country's far-west Xinjiang region, according to a media report Friday.
The issue of the restrictions on the Uighurs figured in a meeting, held here this week, between Pakistan's Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri and Chinese Ambassador Yao Xing, Dawn newspaper reported.
Breaking the past tradition of keeping silent on the issues related to Chinese Muslims, Qadri spoke about those Muslims facing numerous restrictions in China's Xinjiang province and demanded easing the restrictions , the report said.
Around one million minority Uighurs Muslims have reportedly been sent into detention and indoctrination centres in Xinjing region during a surveillance and security campaign run by the Chinese government.
Qadri told the Chinese envoy that "the placement of restrictions increases the chances of an extremist viewpoint growing in reaction."