Analysis | Are beards and burqas the right target in China’s battle against radical Islam?

A recent government ban on long beards and conservative Muslim attire on public buses in a Xinjiang city highlights China’s renewed – but counterproductive – effort to curb the spread of radical Islam, scholars say.

The ban which took effect this week in Karamay, in the northern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, prohibited those wearing burqas, hijabs and niqabs, or clothes bearing Muslim symbols like the crescent moon and star from boarding buses.

The restriction will be enforced until August 20th, when a local sports event ends.

The authorities said ban was part of measures “to ensure safety on public transportation and combat terrorism”. It warned that “those who do not cooperate will be handled by police”, according to city’s official newspaper Karamay Daily.

The crescent moon and star is a symbol carried on the flag of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a separatist militant group accused by Beijing of advocating ethnic violence.

China blames it for a string of deadly terrorist attacks in Xinjiang and elsewhere in the mainland in the past few years.