In what appears to be a case of social media hacking, a post from the official Twitter handle of the Pakistan Consulate General in China’s Chengdu claimed Friday that Islamabad and Beijing will continue to work closely on matters of mutual interests, citing the “rights and freedom” of ethnic Uyghurs in Xinjiang as an example.

The tweet, which has still not been taken down, said that Pakistan’s foreign ministry was thankful to Beijing for providing financial aid and support for flood reconstruction in Pakistan, while adding that the two countries will continue to “collaborate in areas of mutual interests such as those pertaining to the freedom of Uyghurs”.

The Foreign Office of Pakistan said on Friday that the official Twitter account of the Pakistan consulate in the Chinese city of Chengdu was “hacked”. “As of today, any tweet or message issued from this account is not made by the Pakistan consulate general Chengdu nor does it reflect the position of the government of Pakistan,” said Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch.

China has been accused of committing human rights violations and genocide against the Uyghurs and other mostly-Muslim ethnic groups in the north-western region of Xinjiang. Apart from that, Beijing has also been accused of targeting Muslim religious figures and banning religious practices in the region, and destroying mosques and tombs. China has always vociferously denied any wrongdoing.

It is estimated that there are about 12 million Uyghurs, mostly Muslim, in Xinjiang, which is officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Human rights organisations allege that China has put more than one million Uyghurs in calls "re-education camps", and sentenced hundreds of thousands to prison terms.

There have been several attempts to debate the treatment of Uyghurs in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), but the Chinese influence thwarted every attempt.

In September last year, the United Nations released a major report into serious alleged human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region, saying torture allegations were credible and citing possible crimes against humanity but stopped short of calling it genocide.

Image source: Wion