China’s Xinjiang region to draft laws to combat religious extremism amid series of violent attacks blamed on Islamic militants

Legislators in China’s far-western region of Xinjiang will start drafting regulations this year against religious extremism, which they blame for violent attacks in the country in recent years, the China Daily reported on Thursday.

Xinjiang’s legislature will also draft local implementation guidelines for a new counterterrorism law, which the National People’s Congress passed in December, the newspaper said.

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“Drafting local regulations on anti-terrorism and eliminating religious extremism are the main focus of this year's legislative work, which will provide solid legal support for Xinjiang to combat terrorism and religious extremism,” Nayim Yassen, director of the Standing Committee of Xinjiang’s regional People’s Congress, was quoted as saying.

He made the comments on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the congress in the region’s capital, Urumqi, the newspaper said.

Hundreds of people have been killed over the past few years in resource-rich Xinjiang, strategically located on the borders of central Asia, in violence between the Muslim Uygur people who call the region home and ethnic majority Han Chinese.

The government has blamed the unrest on Islamist militants, though rights groups and exiles say anger at Chinese controls on the religion and culture of the Uygurs is more to blame for the unrest. China denies any repression in Xinjiang.