BEIJING (TIP): China will step up a campaign against religious extremism in the far western region of Xinjiang on March 25 by implementing measures, including prohibiting “abnormal” beards, the wearing of veils in public places and the refusal to watch state television.

Hundreds have died in recent years in Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur people, in unrest blamed by Beijing on Islamist militants and separatists, though rights groups say the violence is more a reaction to repressive Chinese policies.

The government denies committing abuses in Xinjiang and insists the legal, cultural and religious rights of Uig hurs, a Turkic ethnic group, are fully protected.

While China officially guarantees freedom of religion, authorities have taken steps in the past few years to tackle what it sees as a rise in religious extremism. New legislation passed on Wednesday, widens existing rules and will come into effect on April 1.

Workers in public spaces will be required to “dissuade” those who fully cover their bodies, including veiling their faces, from entering, and to report them to the police, the rules state. It will be banned to “reject or refuse radio, television and other public facilities and services”, marrying using religious rather than legal procedures and “using the name of Halal to meddle in the secular life of others”. “Parents should use good moral conduct to influence their children, educate them to revere science, pursue culture, uphold ethnic unity and refuse and oppose extre mism,” the rules say . The document also bans not allowing children to attend regular school, not abiding by family planning policies, deliberately damaging legal documents and “abnormal growing of beards”.

While Uighurs have traditionally practiced a more relaxed form of Islam, the popularity of veils for women has grown in recent years in what experts say is an expression of opposition to Chinese controls.

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a “great wall of iron” to safeguard Xinjiang during the annual meeting of the parliament earlier this month.

(Reuters)