Iron Hand on Terror

By+MEI+XINYU

Sufficient awareness must be raised of the severity and complexity of terrorism in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of China Zhang Chunxian said on August 2， 2014 after violence in Shache County on July 28 claimed 37 innocent lives and injured 13 people.

The shooting dead of 59 terrorists and arrests of 215 underline the horror of the situation， and the dire necessity for an anti-terror strategy.

The obvious planning of this incident has confirmed that there was collaboration between terrorist groups outside and within the country. Investigations have found that the so-called East Turkistan Islamic Movement played a major role in this incident， and so confirm its intent.

That a local man could form a terrorist group and organize such an attack with the help of overseas partners， simply by spreading secessionist and extreme religious ideas among the local population， suggests just how vulnerable certain local residents are to such evil ideas. The complexity of anti-terror efforts is thus evident.

Of the 37 killed in the attack， two were Uygurs who tried to stop the terrorists from harming innocent people. This proves that violence in the region is not necessarily to do with ethnicity.

The murder of Iman Jume Tahir by two terrorists on July 30 outside the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar after he presided over morning prayers confirms the inhuman nature of terrorism， and disregard for moral limits in achieving its desired goals.

What we need to do is to wield an iron hand towards such people that have no moral principles.

There is no justification for the least leniency for anyone who summarily beheads an innocent person. The shooting dead of 59 terrorists by armed police can therefore be interpreted as a manifestation of our stand on terrorism， which is the enemy of all.

Of course， an iron hand alone cannot root out this evil.

What is urgently needed is development of the local economy to substantially improve the living standards of local residents.

But the development of clean governance， which is equally important to convince local residents of the trust they can place in local government， is also crucial. Once accomplished， these goals will leave no room for the existence of terrorism.