Senior Chinese officials may discuss ETIM issue in India

ISLAMABAD: Regional experts here believe that the issue of East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) may be discussed during Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao’s visit to India next month. Li would visit India from November 3 to 7, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.
Founded in 1997, the ETIM is a separatist movement that has been launching scores of attacks in Xinjiang and is also connected to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups operating in the region.
President Mamnoon Hussain, who was recently in China to attend a military parade, had categorically stated that almost all members of the Uighur militant group, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, had been eliminated from Pakistan.
In a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Mamnoon said the Operation Zarb-e-Azb was successful in eradicating terrorism from Pakistan. “It has also been very helpful in eliminating the ETIM elements from our country and I think almost all the ETIM people in our country have been eliminated. Maybe, if they are there, there should be very few,” he was quoted as saying.
After being routed in Pakistan, many ETIM militants are holed up in Afghanistan. It is strongly suspected that along with the TTP, the Indian establishment is covertly supporting the ETIM in Afghanistan to destabilise the Chinese Xinjiang province.
Meanwhile, newspaper reports have revealed that around 300 Chinese militants are also fighting alongside the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. According to the Global Times, a Chinese newspaper, these militants are traveling to Syria via Turkey. “According to information from various sources, including security officers from Iraq’s Kurdish region, Syria and Lebanon, around 300 Chinese extremists are fighting with IS in Iraq and Syria,” the Global Times was reported as saying.