Imran Khan believes in China's treatment of Uighurs

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said his country believes in China's version regarding the treatment of Uighurs, a minority Muslim ethnic group in China's restive Xinjiang province, despite the overwhelming evidence of Beijing's atrocities in the region. Imran Khan also said China's take on the Uighur issue was completely different from what was being reported in the Western media. "Because of our extreme proximity and relationship with China, we actually accept the Chinese version."  According to the Dawn newspaper Imran Khan said it is hypocritical. There are much worse human rights violations taking place in other parts of the world... But Western media hardly comment on this. Imran Khan said, lashing out at Western media for highlighting the Uighurs' situation and Hong Kong.

Imran Khan said China has always stood by Pakistan whenever his country has faced trouble, politically or internationally. He also Pakistan's relationship with China had nothing to do with India. "Our relationship is a bilateral relationship. It is extremely strong," Khan said underlining Pakistan's strong ties with China. Recently, Imran Khan  when asked about his silence on the atrocities on Uighur Muslims in China and outspokenness about Islamophobia in Europe and the US, he said he is "more concerned about what is happening at the border of his country." Khan, in an interview with HBO Axios, also said he has been talking to Beijing "behind the closed doors" and he has been informed, "this is not the case, according to the Chinese people."

An estimated 1 million people or more -- most of them Uighurs -- have been confined in mass detention camps in the Xinjiang region in recent years, researchers have said. China has been accused of imposing forced labour, systematic forced birth control, torture and separating children from incarcerated parents. China accuses East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) of being responsible for several violent attacks in the province and outside, including one at the Forbidden City in Beijing in 2013, which have killed several people.